What you need to know
- Google details a simplified enrollment process for “high-risk” users interested in passkeys through its Advanced Protection Program (APP).
- Additionally, Google has partnered with Internews to protect other high-risk users like journalists and human rights workers from online attacks.
- Google brought passkeys to its APP earlier this year after making the security measure an alternative to passwords for accounts in 2023.
As Google looks to help users combat online attacks, the company is detailing a new update for passkeys to help the “high-risk.”
Today’s update (July 10) aims to simplify the enrollment process for high-risk users of passkey through the Advanced Protection Program (APP). Google informed a press release that users enrolling in the app must ensure their device and browser are compatible. After that, visiting the program’s official page and hitting “Get Started” will produce a set of instructions.
Users can enroll with a passkey or physical security key, however, Google still recommends adding a recovery method. The options include your phone number, email, or another passkey/security key.
Aside from a revamped enrollment process, Google announces its partnership with Internews. Journalists and human rights workers fall within the scope of a “high-risk” user as Google looks to help protect their sensitive data. The post adds that the partnership helps expand the APP’s work by bringing free security keys.
Work with Internews will reach 10 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, and Poland.
Google started rolling out passkeys as an alternate method to signing into its accounts a year ago. While users can forget their passwords, they are also quite susceptible to heinous attacks. Passkeys require a user’s biometric data, which isn’t an easy item for attackers to crack and gain access to your information.
More importantly, Google states that passkeys are usable across any device. This means folks who’ve enrolled through the APP on one phone can utilize their passkeys on another without issue.
The simplification of its APP enrollment process comes a few months after the program gained passkeys in the first place. Google started rolling out passkeys in its Advanced Protection Program in May, which was announced during the World Password Day celebrations. Several other big names in tech have joined the passkey movement such as Amazon, 1Password, Dashlane, Docusign, Kayak, Mercari, and Shopify.
These passkeys were also stated to bring “security notifications” regarding your Google account and other services you’ve used. The company hopes security measures such as this will help restrict the abilities of online attackers.
