5 ms·

I'll give you "site specific" but I'm less confident on "can't be stolen." If the computer can fetch them to use them something running on the computer can too.

I'll give you "site specific" but I'm less confident on "can't be stolen." If the computer can fetch them to use them something running on the computer can too. Of course even "site specific" is valuable in the "gmail account" or "apple ID" world. The last Kreb's article was something like $30 each for gmail creds. Also my computer doesn't have a secure enclave because I'm keeping it disabled to prevent my machine from upgrading to Windows 11 :-). I wonder what it would try to do in that case. That said, are people putting their cryptowallets in the secure enclave too these days? That would be new information for me.

obpe 3y ago
The key isn't fetched and never leaves the enclave. The enclave does the crypto functions. Passkeys are meant to replace passwords for the average user. And they definitely succeed at that.
- ChuckMcM 3y ago
  So in order to access a service your access device has to have a secure enclave that can enact this crypto?
  - tony-allan 3y ago
    Most modern devices do contain a hardware based Secure Enclave. Because the technology is newish I would do some research before using it for anything really important.
    - jruohonen 3y ago
      > Most modern devices do contain a hardware based Secure Enclave. So like Intel's SGX was so secure until it was not?
      - wmf 3y ago
        You have to start somewhere.
      - sp332 3y ago
        If my setup is secure enough that someone has to break SGX on my laptop to beat it, that's good enough for me. What is your threat model anyway?
  - sp332 3y ago
    It depends on the implementation, but I think that's the general idea. https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/keystore https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/keystore for Android, for example.
  - justinludwig 3y ago
    Or you can use an external hardware security key; the latest versions of most security keys (like YubiKey 5, Nitrokey 3, etc) support Passkeys. Passkeys are basically just U2F 2.0, allowing you to use an asymmetric key pair as the first factor instead of the second.
    - ChuckMcM 3y ago
      Thanks for that, Yubikey notes that you cannot copy passkeys (this is good!), but now I'm wondering if I can have multiple passkeys (for a backup key)...
      - m-p-3 3y ago
        That's up to each services to implement, but so far all the sites I use with Passkeys have my two Yubikeys registered.
- richardjam73 3y ago
  What if you use multiple different devices? How can they share the key?
  - echeese 3y ago
    You can add passkeys for each device (e.g. Windows Hello) or use cloud-synced keys (iCloud, Google, 1Password, probably more)

obpe 3y ago

The key isn't fetched and never leaves the enclave. The enclave does the crypto functions. Passkeys are meant to replace passwords for the average user. And they definitely succeed at that.

ChuckMcM 3y ago
So in order to access a service your access device has to have a secure enclave that can enact this crypto?
- tony-allan 3y ago
  Most modern devices do contain a hardware based Secure Enclave. Because the technology is newish I would do some research before using it for anything really important.
  - jruohonen 3y ago
    > Most modern devices do contain a hardware based Secure Enclave. So like Intel's SGX was so secure until it was not?
    - wmf 3y ago
      You have to start somewhere.
    - sp332 3y ago
      If my setup is secure enough that someone has to break SGX on my laptop to beat it, that's good enough for me. What is your threat model anyway?
- sp332 3y ago
  It depends on the implementation, but I think that's the general idea. https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/keystore https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/keystore for Android, for example.
- justinludwig 3y ago
  Or you can use an external hardware security key; the latest versions of most security keys (like YubiKey 5, Nitrokey 3, etc) support Passkeys. Passkeys are basically just U2F 2.0, allowing you to use an asymmetric key pair as the first factor instead of the second.
  - ChuckMcM 3y ago
    Thanks for that, Yubikey notes that you cannot copy passkeys (this is good!), but now I'm wondering if I can have multiple passkeys (for a backup key)...
    - m-p-3 3y ago
      That's up to each services to implement, but so far all the sites I use with Passkeys have my two Yubikeys registered.
richardjam73 3y ago
What if you use multiple different devices? How can they share the key?
- echeese 3y ago
  You can add passkeys for each device (e.g. Windows Hello) or use cloud-synced keys (iCloud, Google, 1Password, probably more)