Passkeys are basically client certs for website logins.
Server stores a public key, encrypts a challenge on login attempt. Client browser uses private key to decrypt challenge (and sign it maybe?) and respond to web server to authenticate.
Hackers can’t get a shared secret (like a password or password hash) by hacking the website’s database becaus the public key is all they store; useless without the private key.
Not foolproof, but much harder to exploit than passwords - which many people re-use across multiple sites.
I don’t know much about client certificates, because nobody ever used them. All I know is that they are decades older than passkeys, and “certificate” implies there is a public-private keypair, just like in a passkey.
If I were talking about Passkeys and comparing them to client certificates, even though I don’t know much about client certificates in practice, I would say:
Passkeys can be installed in your password manager, which handles securely syncing it to all of your devices
Websites can make it very easy to create or log in with a passkey
Far more websites support passkeys
Websites can support multiple passkeys per user
The user experience is far better with passkeys
Even if your password manager isn’t installed on a given machine, you can still log in with a passkey via your phone, so long as both devices have bluetooth enabled. This allows you to log in on an untrusted device, like a library computer, without exposing your password (though unfortunately that would still result in that computer having access to the session and being able to modify account settings - best practice would be to log out when you’re done and then, from a trusted device, confirm that you were logged out / log out of all devices.)
What are the benefits of a passkey over a client certificate?
Passkeys are basically client certs for website logins.
Server stores a public key, encrypts a challenge on login attempt. Client browser uses private key to decrypt challenge (and sign it maybe?) and respond to web server to authenticate.
Hackers can’t get a shared secret (like a password or password hash) by hacking the website’s database becaus the public key is all they store; useless without the private key.
Not foolproof, but much harder to exploit than passwords - which many people re-use across multiple sites.
What are the benefits of a client certificate? As an end user, I’m pretty sure I’ve never used one.
I don’t know much about client certificates, because nobody ever used them. All I know is that they are decades older than passkeys, and “certificate” implies there is a public-private keypair, just like in a passkey.
If I were talking about Passkeys and comparing them to client certificates, even though I don’t know much about client certificates in practice, I would say: