Apple, Google, and Microsoft announced plans to expand support for a passwordless sign-in standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. 

Andrew Shikiar, executive director and CMO of the FIDO Alliance, explains: “This new capability stands to usher in a new wave of low-friction FIDO implementations alongside the ongoing and growing utilization of security keys — giving service providers a full range of options for deploying modern, phishing-resistant authentication.”

Password security is a leading conversation among technology giants, with hundreds of companies and service providers around the world working with FIDO Alliance and W3C to create password-less sign-in standards that would decrease password breaches and account takeovers. 

Google’s Sampath Srinivas who is in charge of the secure authentication said the “passkey will bring us much closer to the passwordless future” as tech giants seek a “common passwordless sign-in standard”. Passwordless authentication will allow users to access their online accounts using a cryptographic token known as FIDO (Fast ID Online), which quickly authenticates the user’s sign-in attempt and allows him to log in without needing a password or an account recovery method.

This statement is echoed by Kurt Knight, Apple’s Senior Director of Platform Product Marketing, who is “working with the industry to establish new, more secure sign-in methods that offer better protection and eliminate the vulnerabilities of passwords.”

The companies’ platforms already support FIDO Alliance standards on billions of devices, and Apple speculates the new “capabilities are expected to become available over the course of the coming year.”