Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox to support biometric login
Internet browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox have agreed to support a new standard called Web Authentication API that uses fingerprints/facial recognition for login. Introduced by Internet standards organizations W3C and FIDO Alliance, this new open standard protocol called WebAuthn will allow browsers and websites to use biometric encryption methods instead of passwords. Here's how it will work.
How will this new password free protocol work?
With WebAuthn, developers will be able to integrate biometric login into their websites. The method relies on public-key cryptography. Now when you open a website and log in, you would be prompted for an authorization gesture (biometrics/facial recognition, for instance) instead of having to enter the passwords manually. Such a service is particularly convenient when you are not logging-in using your own devices.
This new feature is soon coming on all popular browsers
WebAuthn will be available in the upcoming versions of Chrome, Edge and Firefox slated for release in the next few months. The new password-free tool has reached the 'Candidate Recommendation (CR) stage', meaning it is being proposed to the standards bodies for final approval.
WebAuthn aims to eliminate risks associated with passwords
The FIDO Alliance claims that this new tool will help businesses and online service providers to protect their data and their users' credentials from phishing, man-in-the-middle attacks and the misuse of stolen data. With WebAuthn, users will be able to utilize password-free strong authentication that works across the browsers.
Bye Bye Phishing, says FIDO Alliance
"After years of increasingly severe data breaches and password credential theft, now is the time for service providers to end their dependency on vulnerable passwords and one-time-passcodes and adopt phishing-resistant FIDO Authentication for all websites and applications," said Brett McDowell, executive director, FIDO Alliance.
