Yubico’s perspective and resource guide to passkeys 101

There has been a lot of information lately about the new ‘password-killing’ solution, the passkey. As we’ve discussed in previous posts on the topic, passkeys are a new industry term to make existing technology standards approachable to users. Passkeys are discoverable FIDO credentials that enable users to authenticate to websites without a password. Two types of discoverable FIDO credentials enable passwordless authentication; copyable or hardware bound.

Copyable passkeys can be synced across smartphones, tablets, and laptops/desktops and are primarily meant for consumer scenarios to help them move away from phishing-prone passwords. By contrast, hardware-bound passkeys – where the FIDO credential stays on the portable authenticator (such as a YubiKey) – are a benefit for enterprises and high assurance consumers, or just high assurance use cases. 

While copyable passkeys are new to the scene, hardware-bound passkey use cases have been supported by both the YubiKey 5 Series and Security Key Series since we launched them in 2018.

Early demos of copyable passkey solutions show how the passkey is not bound to the physical authenticator, but may be copied to the user’s profile in the user’s cloud account. Ultimately, passkeys enable new user experiences and drive adoption of FIDO authentication, but copyable passkeys represent another trade-off between security and usability. Decision makers will have to choose whether they want to accept these trade-offs, including a gradient of security considerations. 

(image courtesy of @vibronet via Identiverse)

Yubico’s passkey resources
We will continue to share important information so you can understand passkeys further.  Our goal is to inform you so that you can make critical decisions for your business moving forward:

What’s next

We are actively working on developing additional content detailing important passkey takeaways specifically for enterprises and developers who are looking for more information on what passkeys are and how to use them. We plan to publish this content in the coming weeks and months and will update this post with future content as available. Be sure to check back for the latest answers to any passkey questions you may have.

Talk to our teamTalk to our team

Share this article:


  • Mission matters – my reflections on winning the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year “This is the biggest mission any of the entrepreneurs have presented in this competition.”  I heard these words a few weeks ago from one of the judges for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year award program – whom I had the honor to meet during the final step of the world’s largest entrepreneur competition.  […]Read moreawardsFounderStina Ehrensvard
  • Yubico recognized by TrustRadius 2025 Award for top customer reviewsAs AI-driven cyber threats like credential phishing evolve and grow in complexity, phishing-resistant YubiKeys are an important component toward cyber resilience — and our mission to make the internet more secure has never been more critical. To support this, customer feedback is something we take very seriously and is an invaluable tool to ensure we’re […]Read moreawardsTrustRadius
  • CEO Corner: Maintaining stable growth while navigating global uncertaintyAs we officially close out the first quarter of 2025,  I am pleased we saw a quarter with solid growth and profitability along with ongoing demand for phishing-resistant authentication. We continue to see new types of high-profile cyber attacks appearing regularly, and a major reason for the success of phishing attacks is stolen credentials. As […]Read moreCEOCEO CornerEarningsMattias Danielsson
  • Introducing the Yubico Academy: Enabling partners for a phishing-resistant futureAt Yubico, strong partnerships are fundamental to a more secure digital world. Our commitment goes beyond providing leading security keys; it’s about actively fostering the growth of our valued partners through impactful enablement programs. A cornerstone is the Yubico Academy, featuring our comprehensive certification program.  This program enables our partners’ teams to become Yubico experts, […]Read more