Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I believe security keys are the offline version of passkeys you're looking for.

I am afraid that websites will somehow disable support security keys and only support passkey implementations from big tech (similar to how websites only offer signin with google, fb , etc).

Can someone clarify if WebAuthn protocol allows for this filtering against hardware authenticators?



yes, there's an attestation cert as part of the register request


I hear that the way Big Tech implements passkeys means that it is impossible to require attestation to prove use of their implementations.


I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right, but I think it’s not all bad to only use auth from big tech - I don’t know if I trust most small companies to implement uname/password auth correctly. Most users recycle passwords too so a leak is really bad.

I think the reason to only support big tech passkey auth is because users (at scale) can’t be trusted to keep track of their hardware keys.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: