So their vision of the future is that to do anything online, one MUST have a phone (ahem, portable wiretap)? And they're going to be keeping my secrets for me, for my own good?
It's literally the opposite. You "must" have a cryptographic device (a dongle) that is only doing that one thing, authentication. Doesn't have a built in radio (unless for NFC, if you want it), doesn't have any microphone or camera, doesn't store any data beyond what's needed to authenticate, doesn't communicate except to authenticate - bi-directionally, so phishing is no longer a thing, or at least it's a lot harder.
It's very hard to make a privacy case against FIDO. Practically speaking it's one of the best things that happened to privacy&security since the invention of asymmetric cryptography. The deployment of this tech reduces phishing effectiveness to near zero, or in many cases literally zero.
> It's very hard to make a privacy case against FIDO.
With username and password, I have full control over my privacy in a very easy to understand fashion: If I randomly generate them I know I cannot be tracked (as long as I ensure my browser doesn't allow it by other means).
With those keys I have a opaque piece of hardware which transfers an opaque set of data to each website I use and I have NO idea what data that is because I do not manually type it in. I need to trust the hardware.
Sure, I could read the standard, but it very likely is complex enough that it is impossible to understand and trust for someone who has no crypto background.
And I also have no guarantee that the hardware obeys the standard. It might violate it in a way which makes tracking possible. Which is rather likely, because why else would big tech companies push this if it didn't benefit them in some way?
I doubt they'll do away with tools like smart cards or Yubikeys any time soon. Laptops and modern computers also contains a TPM so you don't necessarily need to have a phone for secrets storage.
If push comes to shove, I'm sure someone will develop a lightweight Android emulation layer you can run in the cloud that pretends to be a phone enough that you can use it.
> Laptops and modern computers also contains a TPM
The root of trust for which extends to who knows where, and you're not allowed to look at the source code or learn how it works because that would threaten Hollywood's profit margins.
We're basically building a system of DRM for access to human beings, and making the whole world dependent on these unaccountable entities.
My vision of future authentication (shared by colleagues in security) is based in strong hardware credentials and additional layer-7 context about identity, device and location. Basically, more identification of you and your browser using cryptographically-guaranteed and immutable events. It is actually the deprecation of passwords altogether and generally moving the trust boundary away from the control of the user entirely. I also don't enjoy it, but it would solve a lot of current problems we see in information security.
I don't know if you're being sarcastic, but your vision sounds like a nightmare and not very far removed from Gattaca.
> moving the trust boundary away from the control of the user entirely. I also don't enjoy it, but it would solve a lot of current problems we see in information security.
Every despot throughout history has noted that freedom can be traded for security, but I thought that most of us would agree that freedom is more important.
Doesn’t require phone? Supported by desktop browsers also. Third party “auth managers” should be possible — likely integrated into existing password managers?
anthony_r|3 years ago
It's very hard to make a privacy case against FIDO. Practically speaking it's one of the best things that happened to privacy&security since the invention of asymmetric cryptography. The deployment of this tech reduces phishing effectiveness to near zero, or in many cases literally zero.
eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7|3 years ago
With username and password, I have full control over my privacy in a very easy to understand fashion: If I randomly generate them I know I cannot be tracked (as long as I ensure my browser doesn't allow it by other means).
With those keys I have a opaque piece of hardware which transfers an opaque set of data to each website I use and I have NO idea what data that is because I do not manually type it in. I need to trust the hardware.
Sure, I could read the standard, but it very likely is complex enough that it is impossible to understand and trust for someone who has no crypto background.
And I also have no guarantee that the hardware obeys the standard. It might violate it in a way which makes tracking possible. Which is rather likely, because why else would big tech companies push this if it didn't benefit them in some way?
stjohnswarts|3 years ago
raxxorraxor|3 years ago
jeroenhd|3 years ago
If push comes to shove, I'm sure someone will develop a lightweight Android emulation layer you can run in the cloud that pretends to be a phone enough that you can use it.
dane-pgp|3 years ago
The root of trust for which extends to who knows where, and you're not allowed to look at the source code or learn how it works because that would threaten Hollywood's profit margins.
We're basically building a system of DRM for access to human beings, and making the whole world dependent on these unaccountable entities.
0daystock|3 years ago
xdennis|3 years ago
> moving the trust boundary away from the control of the user entirely. I also don't enjoy it, but it would solve a lot of current problems we see in information security.
Every despot throughout history has noted that freedom can be traded for security, but I thought that most of us would agree that freedom is more important.
dane-pgp|3 years ago
Mass surveillance. You can just say mass surveillance.
unknown|3 years ago
[deleted]
BluSyn|3 years ago