WhatsApp’s relationship to data protection can safely be described as “complicated”. But now the parent company Meta has activated Passkey, a function that is intended to increase the security of the app. TECHBOOK explains exactly how this works.
The history of passwords is a story full of annoyances. Each account requires its own password, which should be difficult to crack but easy to remember. Under no circumstances should you write down the access data somewhere unencrypted; password managers are intended to help with secure organization. And yet, despite all the effort, there remains a high risk that sensitive passwords will fall into the hands of criminals through phishing. But a solution seems to be in sight: As TECHBOOK reported, passkeys are intended to curb the huge password chaos. And Meta also relies on exactly this process and is introducing passkeys into its messenger WhatsApp.
This is how passkeys work
Meta has released a new login security function for smartphones starting with Android 9. So far you can lock WhatsApp and protect your chats from unauthorized people. Now Meta is going one step further and offering a passkey as an identification option instead of a password or fingerprint. The passkey procedure used was approved by the FIDO Alliance (Fbranch IDentity.entity Online), which includes Google, Apple and Microsoft, among others. The passkey login is intended to replace the traditional password and two-factor authentication without users having to think up and remember another password just for WhatsApp.
Also interesting: What is two-factor authentication and how does it work?
The heart of passwordless registration is so-called public key cryptography. Two keys are created during the one-time setup on the smartphone. The private key remains on your own device, the other, public key is stored by the service provider – i.e. Android or Google. For example, if you want to log in to WhatsApp, all you have to do is enter your PIN, fingerprint or face scan. The device uses the private key to create a one-time password that can only be read by the other half of the key. This means the service can authenticate you without actually sharing the actual passkey with WhatsApp or another service.
Passkeys: More secure and convenient
Since a new one-time password is generated every time you log in, it is of no use to criminals to intercept a password. Thanks to asymmetric encryption, the passkey method is significantly more secure than traditional passwords.
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You don’t want to miss any important news about smartphones and software? Then Follow us now on WhatsApp! After testing in the beta version, WhatsApp has now gradually released the passkey login, as Meta announced on October 16th via X (formerly Twitter). The new function can be found under “Settings” and “Account” – provided that the passkey option has already been set up on the smartphone. It is currently unclear whether and when WhatsApp will also make the passkey login available for iOS.