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0 pointsSpivak1y ago0 comments

I don't think the answer to these problems building system that treats users the same as an attacker when it comes to accessing and backing up their own private keys. Because at the end of the day the ability to export your private keys and store them somewhere securely is the account recovery of last resort.

Passkeys aren't HSMs -- the fact that you can sync them via your iCloud or Google account should dispel any such nonsense. It's fine for Apple or Google to store your keys at your request and they should keep them secure but the model of "here's my key, now don't ever let me look at it but let me use it via what is effectively DRM" is silly.

If a warning message on export "Never share this with anyone. Even someone you trust. Even your IT department. There is no reason anyone but you should have access to this key." isn't enough to stop people giving it away then no security was ever going to work for them. They would give away the credentials that lets them use the key in its absence.

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vel0city1y ago

> Because at the end of the day the ability to export your private keys and store them somewhere securely is the account recovery of last resort.

Or just have multiple passkeys for the same account. It doesn't matter if I lose the passkeys on my laptop because I've got other passkeys to those accounts on several other devices.

> Passkeys aren't HSMs -- the fact that you can sync them via your iCloud or Google account should dispel any such nonsense

Resident keys practically are HSMs, aren't they? None of my passkeys are backed up to a Google or iCloud account.

> If a warning message on export "Never share this with anyone. Even someone you trust. Even your IT department. There is no reason anyone but you should have access to this key.

In those conversations with people who should be experts I usually made a point to tell them send me the public key and told them to never share the private. They still sent the public. People have been told to never share passwords either but I still often hear "yeah my password for this is blahblah123..." when asking for help.

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