You will no longer need to set a password with new Microsoft accounts

Microsoft is again approaching the future without a password.

In a bold step towards Passy – which uses cryptography to better protect the data from hackers and phishing fraud – the new Microsoft accounts will already be without password by default. Instead, the company will issue a PassKeys as part of the effort to make the process more secure.

The company has announced the news of World Password DayWho is observed on the first Thursday in May – a day used to encourage people to view their passwords and security settings as Intel created the event in 2013.

The need for a better understanding of password protection comes at a time when very large technology companies are pressing to remove passwords completely. Apple rolled Passkeys as part of iOS 16 in 2022, followed by Google, which allows people to enter Google and other popular accounts such as Amazon, WhatsApp and Paypal via fingerprint, face scanning, pin or model using the lock screen of the device.

“Although passwords have existed for centuries, we hope that their reign over our online world is over,” Microsoft said in a Blog post.

Weak passwords not just make users vulnerable to hackers, they are also frequently reused In numerous platforms, from bank applications to email to social media.

Now that a new Microsoft user has tried to enter a password and set up a “one -off code” in their account, the company will prompt them to log in with the code instead of the password and then encourage them to record the Pasque. When they visit again, they will be prompted to enter a passage – not a password. In the meantime, existing users can visit their account settings to delete their password.

“This simplified experience signs you more quickly and in our experiments, reduce the use of the password by over 20%,” the company added. “As more and more people are writing PassKeys, the number of password certificates will continue to decrease until, in the end, we cannot completely remove the password maintenance.”

Last year, the company introduced Passkey support for Microsoft Accounts for its user applications and services such as Xbox and Copilot. Since then, he has seen nearly a million Passy registered every day.

Not a perfect solution

Lori Cravanor, Professor of Security at the University of Carnegie Melon, admitted that PassKeys usually have benefits of security over passwords, especially because many users still use the same password for many accounts, but they said that Pascai were also not perfect.

“From a security point of view, it’s great to see them pushed to users, but I have some concerns about their usability, especially when users have multiple devices or lose or upgrade a device.” she said. “Shared accounts and devices can also be problematic.”

However, she said that companies insisting on PassKeys should deal with usability problems, apply secure and usable reserve errors.

“(They will have to) support users who face problems,” Cranor said.