While Google keeps on adding new security features, the latest of all is the Passkeys that’ll replace the less safe passwords. This is reportedly going to provide enhanced protection against the ever-increasing phishing attacks, said Parisa Tabriz, vice president of Google.
These passkeys will be available to android users and the web browser Chrome. According to Google, this feature was already added for the members of Google Chrome Canary and Play Services Beta and will be available to the masses by the end of the year.
The reason behind this feature, according to Google, is that passkeys are much safer as they don’t leak in server breaches, can’t be reused, and protect users from phishing attacks. Further, they believed that as the majority of people and workers use web browsers for a variety of software application use, it’s crucial to have a framework that protects user data.
These passkeys are developed on the industry’s best practices and operate across different OS and browsers. Also, the passkey functionality can be used for websites and apps. Tabriz explained that phishing incidents would decrease significantly with the use of existing screen lock methods like fingerprint authentication to confirm a login.
These passkeys can be created and used on Android easily, and they also get synced through the Google Password Manager. If website developers are keen to use this feature, they will be able to build the passkey support on a website for Chrome using WebAuthn API.
Such features are welcomed by the world’s cybersecurity experts as a great initiative to tackle cyberattacks. Moreover, amidst the increasing tensions between Russia-Ukraine, the number of cyberattacks has increased manifolds. Google took this very seriously and introduced a free defense program, Project Shield.
This program is an initiative to help the Ukrainian government safeguard its sensitive data from the prying eyes of hackers. Under this project, around 200 Ukrainian websites are protected from DDoS attacks.
Google, being the leading web-service provider in the world, tirelessly keeps looking for ways to keep user data safe. Another recent development in this domain made by the tech giant was the introduction of virtual credit numbers. This feature replaces the physical card number with a unique virtual card number and provides users protection while making online transactions.
As these features have been added recently, Google has also thought about making them better in the future and has introduced the Chrome vulnerability reward program. Google said that this program has helped them get a hold of 500 security bugs. The researchers who found these bugs have been rewarded, and the rewards so far account for $8.7 million.
The vulnerabilities reported through this program help developers work on them and try to eliminate them. Although it’s difficult or nearly impossible to eradicate bugs from any system, Google aims to minimize them to a negligible level with such programs.
