Passwordless future: NordPass introduces a solution to store and manage passkeys

NordPass Passkeys will allow users to store, autofill, and share passkeys from various websites

On Thursday, the password management company NordPass, created by the world’s leading VPN provider NordVPN, announced it has developed a solution to securely store and manage passkeys. With Microsoft, Apple, and Google leading the passkey vision and various websites only starting to use passkeys for online authentication, the new release by NordPass will help internet users easily adapt to this market change without compromising on security and convenience.

“If there had been password management services right when passwords were created back in the last century, we now wouldn’t have issues like locked accounts, password reuse, or weak passwords. As online authentication is entering a new modern phase with passkeys at its forefront, we at NordPass feel the momentum to create future-proof features and help our clients easily handle all of their digital accounts from day one,” says Jonas Karklys, CEO of NordPass.

Company set to implement 360 passwordless approach

Having publicly revealed its strategy on approaching the “‘passwordless future” back in January, NordPass has now introduced its first passwordless solution — as of now, both individual and business users are able to store and manage passkeys from various websites in NordPass, and use them to access apps and websites. With passkeys automatically saved on NordPass instead of a device, they can be accessed on various devices and operating systems, as well as shared with others.

Called the NordPass Passkeys, this release is available on the desktop app, web vault, and on the Firefox and Chrome-based browser extensions. Support for the Safari extension is coming later this year, as well as mobile support whose development relies on platform vendors.

Also this year, the company plans to introduce passwordless sign-in to NordPass, which means there will no longer be a need to repeatedly enter Nord Account and Master password to reach your personal space.

Additionally, NordPass aims to provide a solution to help online businesses and other online service providers to integrate the support of passkey authentication.

Passkeys in a nutshell

While FIDO Alliance, which NordPass is a member of together with other progressive tech companies, is on the constant lookout for the latest tech advances in user authentication, passkey technology is currently considered the most secure and promising alternative to passwords. It has already been adopted by Apple, Microsoft, Google, Paypal, eBay, KAYAK, and various other websites.

When joining one of the websites supporting passkeys, the user's device generates a pair of related keys — public and private. The private key is saved on the device itself and the public key is stored on the website’s server. Without each other, they are useless.

“And here is passkeys’ superiority to passwords. People often lose access to their accounts when a hacker breaks into the website’s server where the users’ passwords are stored, sometimes even unencrypted. Passkeys saved on a server are way less valuable since they work only in pairs with private keys saved on a device,” says Karklys.

Poor password habits remain an issue

Because 82%of all data breaches in 2022 involved the "human element," it is no surprise that the way internet users handle their accounts needs to change. Having hundreds of accounts to manage, people tend to reuse passwords, and go for easiest combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols when creating them.

According to the annual research by NordPass, in 2022, the world’s most common password was “password,” followed by “123456,” “123456789,” and “guest.” While these poor password habits do not seem to drastically change throughout the years, cybersecurity experts were for a long time looking for new online authentication solutions that would take password “hygiene” responsibility from the user.

Since passkeys consist of randomly generated, unique, and long combinations of characters, they are not meant to be remembered by heart — the technology works in such a way that it ensures that the private and public keys connect without user intervention.

ABOUT NORDPASS

NordPass is a password manager for both business and consumer clients. It’s powered by the latest technology for the utmost security. Developed with affordability, simplicity, and ease of use in mind, NordPass allows users to access passwords securely on desktop, mobile, and browsers. All passwords are encrypted on the device, so only the user can access them. NordPass was created by the experts behind NordVPN — the advanced security and privacy app trusted by more than 14 million customers worldwide. For more information: nordpass.com.