Passwordless e-Commerce Authentication

The relationship between E-commerce companies and their humongous userbase has been strictly guarded by passwords through the years. Passwords have been forced down on users over decades as the only viable form of online authentication, making them the centre point of online vulnerabilities. As an outcome, there has been a plethora of data breach incidents, countless sensitive information stolen, company data tampered with and user security challenges.

Even when Two Factor Authentication standards emerged, the end users faced serious challenges as they were forced to juggle between their phones, emails and the sign-in website and enter timed OTPs to gain access to their accounts. 2FA factors were seriously lacking on the user experience front, propelling them to sink within no time. To solve all challenges at once, FIDO’s Passkey-based authentication came into the picture!

EBay, one of the global e-Commerce giants has recently adopted passkeys to be the new standard of login for their users. eBay experienced a massive security breach firsthand in 2014 when hackers used the compromised credentials of three employees to infiltrate the system and hack the personal data of 145 million users. Tola Dalton , Director of Identity Software Development at eBay pointed out some of the reasons why an e-Commerce giant like eBay has decided to embark on the passwordless journey. He mentioned that while the security aspect can be a significant leverage, the enhanced user experience factor acts as the catalyst for the mass adoption of passkeys.

“With an enterprise as large as ours, with a diversified customer userbase and a diverse range of preferences among users, switching to Passwordless and biometric-based authentication protocol won’t happen overnight. We as a company are willing to embark on a transformational journey leading our users to a frustration-free login experience”.

Passkeys- The Right Fit for e-Commerce Companies

1. Security Factor: The biometric authentication protocol offered by Passkeys eliminates the need for a user to remember complicated passwords. Owing to the proximity-based authentication system, Passkeys are impenetrable by hackers and provide foolproof security against phishing attacks and credential the
2. User Experience Factor: Passkeys are designed to be user-friendly and bring a whole new level of usability to E-Commerce giants. With Passkeys, users can log in to websites/apps within seconds. No complicated passwords to remember, no OTP time-out, no additional hassle. Just a simple face scan or fingerprint can allow users to complete the sign-in process in seconds frictionlessly.
3. Inclusivity Factor: Passkeys are designed to be highly inclusive and ensure that the benefits of this authentication protocol are enjoyed by all users alike, irrespective of any form of physical disability such as vision impairment, hearing impairment etc.

Read the entire blog on User Experience in e-Commerce authentication here!

Interested to know how your company can integrate Passkeys without the hassle of building a new code base from the scratch? Become a part of the SoundAuth community by signing up on SoundAuth.com