this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
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You do realize that your biometric authentication techniques don't actually send your biometrics (e.g. fingerprint/face) to the website you're using and that you are actually just registering your device and storing a private key? Your biometrics are used to authenticate with your local device and unlock a locally-stored private key.
That private key is essentially what passkeys are doing, storing a private key either in a password manager or locally on device backed by some security hardware (e.g. TPM, secure enclave, hardware-backed keystore).
Sure I knew that. I just didn't know if that was a "passkey" or some other private key mechanism.