Key takeaways:
- GitHub has officially launched passkey support for passwordless authentication, enhancing online security for its users.
- Passkeys offer a secure and user-friendly way to access GitHub accounts, combining PINs and biometric authentication methods like facial recognition and fingerprints.
- This move aligns with the broader industry trend of promoting passwordless authentication across various platforms.
In a world where online security is paramount, GitHub has just announced the general availability of passkey support for passwordless authentication. This new security feature, which launched in public beta in July, now offers developers a more secure and convenient way to access their GitHub accounts.
Passkey is a security feature that allows users to authenticate and authorize access to a device, system, or network. It’s often used in password-based authentication systems to sign into online services and apps through PINs and biometric authentication (such as facial recognition and fingerprints).
According to GitHub, passkeys provide several benefits such as easier configuration and enhanced recoverability. The feature also makes it easier for developers to protect GitHub accounts and minimize the risk of lockouts. Passkeys help to protect developers against unauthorized access and data breaches.
“Since the launch of passkeys in beta in July, tens of thousands of developers have adopted them. Now, all users on GitHub.com can use passkeys to protect their account. This continues our commitment to securing all contributors with 2FA by the end of 2023 and strengthening security across the platform—without compromising user experience,” said Hirsch Singhal, Staff Product Manager at GitHub.
How to get started with passkeys on GitHub
To get started with passkeys, developers will need to head over to their account security settings and then click the “Add a passkey” option. It will enable developers to register new passkeys or upgrade eligible security keys to passkeys. You can find more details about upgrading security keys to passkeys on this support page.
GitHub notes that Linux and Firefox don’t offer strong support for passkeys, and many developers reported issues while using the feature in public preview. To address this problem, the company has introduced support for cross-device registration on the platform.
Last year, Microsoft, Google, and Apple teamed up with the FIDO alliance to bring passwordless authentication support across browsers, devices, and operating systems. Since then, these companies have been working to expand passkey support to more customers. Microsoft announced yesterday that it will soon let users sign into apps and websites with passkey on Windows 11 PCs, and you can find more details in our separate post.