From Passwords to Passkeys: Authentication, App Security and the Coming Quantum Era

hari@dasarpai.com (Dr. Hari Thapliyaal) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

From Passwords to Passkeys: Authentication, App Security and the Coming Quantum Era
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Every few months, an app seems to ask us to enable one more security feature.

First there was a password.

Then came a PIN.

Then an OTP on the mobile phone.

Then two-factor authentication.

Then authenticator apps.

Then fingerprint and face recognition.

Now we are hearing about passkeys, hardware security keys, adaptive authentication, behavioral biometrics and continuous authentication.

It can easily appear that these are simply different versions of the same thing.

They are not.

Behind modern authentication lies a surprisingly rich collection of ideas involving human memory, physical possession, biology, devices, networks, cryptography and increasingly even our behavior.

And now another question has appeared:

What happens to all these authentication systems when powerful quantum computers arrive?

Will a quantum computer simply discover our password?
Will fingerprint authentication remain safe?
What happens to passkeys?
What about banking OTPs?

To understand this properly, we first need to understand what authentication actually means.

Authentication on dasarpAI

From Passwords to Passkeys: Authentication, App Security and the Coming Quantum Era

From Passwords to Passkeys: Authentication, App Security and the Coming Quantum Era #

From Passwords to Passkeys: Authentication, App Security and the Coming Quantum Era
#