Software Passkeys Comparison Among Different Systems And The Usability Of Them

Textbased passwords have been the dominant way of authenticating into computer systems. Despite its widespread use, it is a common source of exploitation. One suggested alternative to this is what is referred to as passkeys. Passkeys, still in their early phases, are projected to be a forceful alternative to textbased authentication. However, further development and research need to be done for passkeys to be deployed in a usable and sustainable manner. Previous research has established existing challenges but have not explored how users react to possible mitigations of these challenges. In this study, we build upon previous passkey studies and focus on users’ perception of passkeys usability by letting them use software passkeys for a common use such as creating and logging into accounts by software passkeys, but also by implementing mitigations for the established passkey usability challenges mentioned in the previous research. The thesis results show that our respondents have a clear preferable view on synced passkeys (software passkeys) over traditional authentications and responded positively to the proposed mitigation alternatives. Moreover, synced passkeys used in a series of well integrated software features proved to be much appreciated and something the respondents would like to use more frequently. Despite this ecosystem compatibility are still existing challenges as well as a lack of passkey availability across many services. This thesis aspires to be a foundation and roadmap for further research.