Passkeys vs. Passwords: What Small Businesses Need to Know

CYBERRISKED℠
May 14
2 min read

Passwords Are Changing — But Should You Care?

For decades, passwords have been the gatekeepers to your business data. And really, to practically everyone's personal digital lives. But now “passkeys” are showing up in tech news and on your Apple and Google accounts. Are they better? Safer? Too new? Let’s break it down.

What Is a Password (and Why They're a Problem)

You create them.
You try to remember them.
You probably reuse them.
They’re vulnerable to phishing, brute force, and human error.

What Is a Passkey?

A passkey is a newer, "passwordless" login method backed by Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
Instead of typing a password, you authenticate with Face ID, fingerprint, or device PIN.
It uses special hard-to-break cryptographic keys stored on your device — phishing-resistant by design.

Passkey vs. Password: Key Differences

Feature	Passwords	Passkeys
Who creates it	User	System-generated
Phishing risk	High	Very low
Device-bound	No	Yes (can sync via iCloud, Google, etc.)
Easy to share	Yes (bad)	No (good)
Login method	Typing + remembering	Face ID, fingerprint, or device PIN

What Small Business Owners Should Know

Passkeys are gaining adoption, but not all services support them yet
Most small businesses still need password managers for now
You can start using passkeys on Google, Apple, and some password managers (like 1Password or Bitwarden)
They’re a smart move for securing sensitive accounts (banking, admin email)

What You Can Do Today

Start using a business-grade password manager
Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Try out passkeys on supported services — Google Workspace is a good place to start
Stay alert for phishing — even passkeys can’t stop every scam

Confused About Passkeys or Password Hygiene?

Passkeys are still new. Don't worry if you haven't started on implementing it yet. If you're already a CYBERRISKED℠ client, you'll be receiving a Zoom invite for an upcoming 1-hour live workshop on implementing passkeys for your Microsoft and Google accounts. This is free and exclusive to our existing client base.