--- title: Passwordless Authentication and Identity Theft: Can... description: Passkeys use public-key cryptography to stop phishing, credential stuffing, and password database leaks, the most common causes of account takeover. Each... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/passwordless-authentication-and-identity-theft-can-passkeys-make-the-web-safer--ctnhfcv2s twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Passwordless Authentication and Identity Theft: Can Passkeys Make the Web Safer? | daily.dev og:description: Passkeys use public-key cryptography to stop phishing, credential stuffing, and password database leaks, the most common causes of account takeover. Each... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/passwordless-authentication-and-identity-theft-can-passkeys-make-the-web-safer--ctnhfcv2s og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ctNHfcv2S.png og:image:alt: Passwordless Authentication and Identity Theft: Can Passkeys Make the Web Safer? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Passwordless Authentication and Identity Theft: Can Passkeys Make the Web Safer? **[SitePoint](https://daily.dev/sources/sitepoint)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Passkeys use public-key cryptography to stop phishing, credential stuffing, and password database leaks, the most common causes of account takeover. Each passkey is tied to one domain, so a browser won't use it on a lookalike phishing site, and stolen public keys from a breach can't sign in anywhere. But passkeys only protect the login step. Weak account recovery flows, stolen session cookies, and leaked personal data can still lead to identity theft. The piece includes WebAuthn registration and conditional UI code samples, and recommends using a library like SimpleWebAuthn instead of writing verification logic yourself, since synced passkeys often report a zero signature counter that can falsely lock out real users if checked strictly. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Do passkeys protect against phishing attacks? Yes, passkeys stop phishing because each one is cryptographically tied to the specific domain it was created for. A browser will not offer or use a passkey registered for example.com on a lookalike site like examp1e-login.com, even if the fake page looks identical, removing the need for a user to spot the fake themselves. _Developers hardening login flows can track passkey and WebAuthn implementation guidance on daily.dev._ ### If a database of passkeys gets breached, can attackers use them to log in? No, a database breach exposing passkeys only exposes public keys, which can verify a signature but cannot create one. This means stolen data from a passkey database cannot be used to sign in as a user, unlike a password database breach where stolen hashes can sometimes be cracked or reused. _Teams weighing authentication upgrades can follow passkey security trade-offs on daily.dev._ ### Why does my WebAuthn signature counter check keep failing for valid users? Synced passkeys often report a signature counter of zero on every use instead of incrementing it, unlike older hardware security keys. A strict check that rejects sign-ins when the counter does not increase, a common pattern for hardware keys, will incorrectly lock out real users who rely on synced passkeys. _Developers debugging WebAuthn integrations can find implementation gotchas like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Security considerations when using Passkeys on your website](https://daily.dev/posts/security-considerations-when-using-passkeys-on-your-website-kzkloroe8) · Scott Helme · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [39 New Methods That Compromise Passkey Authentication](https://daily.dev/posts/39-new-methods-that-compromise-passkey-authentication-z1hysnxm6) · BleepingComputer · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Passkeys are Your New Best Friend](https://daily.dev/posts/passkeys-are-your-new-best-friend-qhqzjdn9d) · Tech Lead Digest · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Passkeys 101: An Introduction to Passkeys and How They Work](https://daily.dev/posts/passkeys-101-an-introduction-to-passkeys-and-how-they-work-58plqhzdl) · Scott Helme · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What Are Passkeys and How Do They Work?](https://daily.dev/posts/what-are-passkeys-and-how-do-they-work--eywgznf7x) · Security Boulevard · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#authentication](https://daily.dev/tags/authentication), [#phishing](https://daily.dev/tags/phishing), [#passkeys](https://daily.dev/tags/passkeys) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/passwordless-authentication-and-identity-theft-can-passkeys-make-the-web-safer--ctnhfcv2s) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Passwordless Authentication and Identity Theft: Can Passkeys Make the Web Safer?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/passwordless-authentication-and-identity-theft-can-passkeys-make-the-web-safer--ctnhfcv2s","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/passwordless-authentication-and-identity-theft-can-passkeys-make-the-web-safer--ctnhfcv2s"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T16:32:15.578Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T16:32:47.707Z","description":"Passkeys use public-key cryptography to stop phishing, credential stuffing, and password database leaks, the most common causes of account takeover. 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