Specialists of Microsoft have fixed the blocking of about 7 thousand attacks using passwords every second, almost twice as much as a year ago. These data highlight the urgent need for more secure methods of protecting accounts.
One promising solution is using access keys (Passkeys) which utilize biometric data or PIN codes to unlock the private key on the user’s device, making them highly resistant to phishing and other types of attacks.
Statistics also point to a increase in the complexity of cyber attacks. In the past year, the number of attacks using the “person in the middle” scheme has risen by 146%. Microsoft is actively implementing Passkeys as part of the shift towards more secure authentication methods.
In May 2024, Microsoft announced support for access keys for popular services such as Xbox, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Copilot. This move has significantly expedited the account login process as Passkeys are three times faster than passwords and eight times faster than a combination of passwords with multi-factor authentication.
Users are also readily adopting the new approach, with already 98% of them successfully undergoing authorization using Passkeys, compared to only 32% for passwords.
Microsoft is actively promoting the registration of access keys by offering them during account creation or password changes. This effort has yielded impressive results, with a 987% increase in Passkey usage after the introduction of the new design for accessing the company’s services.
Microsoft foresees that in the coming months, hundreds of millions of users will transition to using access keys. The ultimate goal is to completely phase out passwords and move towards accounts that are protected from phishing attacks.
The shift to Passkeys marks a new era in cybersecurity. Initiatives like this from industry giants such as Microsoft have the potential to revolutionize authentication practices, making them both user-friendly and secure. This change could signal the beginning of the end for the era of passwords.