After several of its rivals, Proton is finally opening up to passkeys (access keys), which aim to replace passwords. Like its other initiatives, Proton specifies that its support for passeskeys covers all of its plans, including the free offer, and respects the principles of open source.
He was still one of the few big password managers who hadn’t taken the plunge. This is now the case. Proton Pass announced this Thursday, March 21, support for passkeys in its application. The deployment of this feature is general: it concerns all devices and all platforms.
Proton launched into the password manager market in spring 2023, with general availability in June. It was released as open source in July.
Support for passkeys – or access keys in French – benefits all Internet users using Proton Pass to manage their secret codes. Indeed, the announcement from the Swiss company Proton underlines that all offers have access to it: paid ones (Proton Unlimited, Pass Plus), as well as free access (Proton Free).
Passkeys appeared in the eyes of the general public from 2022, when Google, Apple and Microsoft decided to join forces to offer a new horizon for online security. The objective is to offer Internet users an alternative to passwords, which have always suffered from certain weaknesses.
The advantages of passkeys are notable: it is not necessary to remember them (memorizing passwords has always been a problem). They have increased robustness by default. They are not immediately exposed to phishing attacks or data leaks. Clearly, the attack surface against a passkey is reduced.
One of the last great actors to take the plunge
In fact, Proton now aligns itself with other big names in the sector — NordPass, 1Password, Dashlane, LastPass, Bitwarden, KeePass, Keeper and Enpass have all embraced the passkey movement. Some started very early, others later. On the web, services and sites are also converting increasingly.
Proton Pass is one of the major password managers to launch relatively late. However, the company defends the pace it has followed in this project. She considers that her rivals have launched “ in the rain ”, to be at the forefront, but this has “ resulted in an often confusing user experience. »
True to its practices, Proton warns that the implementation of the passkeys is entirely open source, allowing any competent person to view the software code and ascertain what is under the hood – this also allows the community to report possible bugs to Proton so that they can be corrected.
👉 Read our review of Proton Password Manager
What are the best password managers?
The main services now present technical sheets very close to each other – we see this with the support for access keys. However, some differences can be noted, whether in the user experience, the interface, the technical orientation or even specialized functionalities.
Numerama offers a comparison of the best password managers, with support for around ten products. If you are hesitant to take the plunge, know that some are completely free, which allows you to get a little idea of how it works. Others have trial periods or basic plans.
If zero risk does not exist in IT security, it is widely accepted that the use of a password manager offers a clearly favorable risk/benefit balance. Because the current alternative consists above all of relying on one’s memory alone or writing down one’s secret codes in a notebook or on a post-it. Historically, it has never been famous.
The best password managers
See all MDP managers
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