WebAuthn: The new web standard aims to make passwords obsolete

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the FIDO Alliance on Monday elevated the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) as an official web standard. The move is believed to be a big step towards making the internet safer and more secure for users around the world.

The new web standard paves way for a simpler and stronger authentication, according to the consortium. The Consortium has asked the internet services to enable the web standard to allow users to log in more securely through security keys and even biometrics. The standard is already supported by major platforms including Windows 10, Android, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.

“Not only are stolen, weak or default passwords behind 81% of data breaches, they are a drain of time and resources. According to a recent Yubico study, users spend 10.9 hours per year entering and/or resetting passwords, which costs companies an average of $5.2 million annually.