Protecting Your Business from Social Engineering With Passkeys

As a small business, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, "We don't have anything worth stealing; who would target us?" But the reality is small businesses are particularly vulnerable to social engineering attacks. According to one recent study, small businesses are 350% more likely to experience social engineering attacks than large enterprises. And without dedicated IT security teams and the resources of larger companies, small businesses often lack the staffing, training, and cybersecurity technology to detect and deter these attacks. Could passkeys be the answer to social engineering threats for small businesses?

Why social engineering is a threat

Social engineering preys on human vulnerabilities by manipulating psychology and emotions to gain unauthorized access to something valuable. Attackers trick people into divulging sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. Some typical social engineering techniques include phishing (deceiving a user to acquire sensitive information), pretexting (using a made-up story to gain a user's trust and trick them into doing something), baiting (promising an item or information to lure a user into doing something), and tailgating (sneaking behind someone to gain physical access to a protected area, like slipping in a door guarded by a key card). The human factor is challenging to defend against because people naturally want to trust and help others. Attackers exploit this trust to access systems and data for financial or material gain. Training employees to spot these attacks is crucial, but more is needed, especially as cyberthieves become more sophisticated.

What are passkeys?

Passkeys are an alternative authentication method. They offer a way to log in that's more secure than a traditional password. A passkey is unique to each user. Passkeys are also standardized, giving users a passwordless experience across all their devices and browsers, without having to re-enroll every time. Browsers, devices, or even password managers can store passkeys to facilitate passwordless login. A passkey can also combine the benefits of multi-factor authentication with a smoother authentication process, increasing security and usability. With a passkey, a user can sign in with a fingerprint scanner, facial recognition, or PIN rather than remembering and typing in credentials. Passkeys, or "cryptographic key pairs," consist of two components: public and private keys. The public key is shared openly and used to encrypt data sent to a user. It acts like a padlock, and anyone can use it to lock a message securely. The private key is kept secret at all times. It decrypts the data encrypted with the public key. Think of it as the key to unlock the padlock. When someone wants to send encrypted data or verify a user's identity, they use the public key. The user can then decrypt the data or prove their identity with the private key. From the user's perspective, they're simply prompted to unlock their device or service with a fingerprint swipe or facial scan, and they're granted access. Everything else happens on the backend. As more websites and apps begin to roll out support for passkeys, more businesses will be able to transition to a secure, passwordless login experience that prevents social engineering attacks and makes authentication easier all around.

Why passkeys are better than passwords

Passwords have several weaknesses that make them vulnerable to social engineering and other cyber threats:

• Users often choose weak passwords that are easy to guess or crack.
• Many people reuse passwords across multiple accounts, increasing the risk to all accounts when one is compromised.
• Phishing attacks can trick users into unintentionally sharing their passwords.
• Developers can store passwords in plain text in databases or otherwise fail to protect credentials with adequate security, making them vulnerable to data breaches.
• Passwords inherently lack the added security of multi-factor authentication, which many users fail to enable.

Passkeys are highly secure because they are not vulnerable to these weaknesses. Passkeys provide a robust defense against social engineering attacks because:

• They are long, unique, randomly generated strings of characters that are virtually impossible to guess or crack.
• Users don't type them into web forms, so they aren't susceptible to phishing or keyloggers.
• Passkeys provide non-repudiation, meaning you can always verify and validate the origin of any actions taken with your private key, which can avert malicious insiders.
• Passkeys can integrate with other factors (multi-factor authentication) like biometrics to provide greater security without requiring additional steps of users.
• Private keys aren't stored on third-party servers, so a data breach doesn't give hackers usable authentication data.
• Passkeys are unique to each service, so users can't be tricked into logging in to a fake website.
• Passkeys can be used for secure remote access, protecting your business from unauthorized entry.

Moving toward a passwordless future

In sum, passkeys offer a superior level of security compared to traditional passwords and are highly effective at protecting your small business from social engineering attacks. Since passkeys remove human fallibility from the authentication process, they effectively eliminate the threat of pretexting, baiting, and other social engineering tactics to gain access to login credentials. By implementing passkeys, you can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to these pernicious threats and safeguard your organization's sensitive information. Learn more about how LastPass is helping companies go passwordless.