Consumer momentum is building around passkey adoption, as people begin to recognise the limitations of passwords, according to the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance, the organisation addressing the lack of interoperability among authentication technologies.
In the two years since passkeys were first announced, global awareness has jumped by 50 per cent, rising from 39 per cent familiar in 2022 to 57 per cent in 2024, the FIDO alliance has revealed. The FIDO Barometer gathers insights into the state of online authentication and consumer perceptions of online security in ten countries across the globe.
Awareness is driving adoption too â the majority of those familiar with passkeys (62 per cent) are using them to secure their apps and online accounts.
FIDO also revealed the cost to organisations still relying on legacy password sign-ins â especially among younger generations. Forty-two per cent abandoned a purchase in the last month due to a forgotten password, rising to over half of those under 35. Similarly, over half of consumers (56 per cent) have given up accessing a service online because they couldnât remember a password in the last month, rising to 66 per cent of those under 35.
Andrew Shikiar, CEO at FIDO Alliance
âConsumer expectations are changing, and this data should serve as a clear call to action for brands and organizations still relying on outdated password systems,â explained Andrew Shikiar, CEO at FIDO Alliance. âConsumers are actively seeking out and prefer passwordless alternatives when available, and brands that fail to adapt are losing patience, money, and loyalty â especially among younger generations.
âWhen consumers know about passkeys, they use them. Excitingly, 20 per cent of the worldâs top 100 websites and services already support passkeys. As the industry accelerates its efforts toward education and making deployment as simple as possible, we urge more brands to work with us to make passkeys available for consumers.â
Password decline; passkey adoption
Password usage appears to be stagnating globally, especially as more user-friendly passwordless alternatives become available.
Overall, the number of times consumers enter a password manually daily decreased again from 2023, while biometrics ranked the authentication method consumers consider the best login experience and the method they consider most secure for the second year running.
When consumers were asked about how they have improved account security in the last year, numbers continued to decline among those who increased the complexity of a password, while those choosing biometrics and using authenticator apps have steadily risen.
FIDO also says passkeys have seen strong adoption in high-growth, digitally advanced markets like China and India, which ranked top globally with 80 per cent and 73 per cent enablement, respectively. The UK followed close behind in third place, with adoption levels at 66 per cent.
Fifty-three per cent of consumers cited an increase in the number of suspicious messages they noticed in recent months, driven mostly by SMS (53 per cent) and email (49 per cent). Similarly, 51 per cent detected an increase in the sophistication of threats and scam messages, likely driven by AI-enhanced attacks.
The post Password Usage Stagnates as Consumers Turn to Biometrics and Passkeys, the FIDO Alliance Reveals appeared first on The Fintech Times.
