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Apple is really pushing for physical security keys to be used with Apple ID

Security Keys, a way to employ third-party physical keys to safeguard data stored on the iCloud platform, is one of the new features introduced by Apple to improve the cybersecurity protections for its users, both individuals and companies.

Security Keys, which Apple says will be broadly accessible in 2023, “strengthens Apple’s two-factor authentication by requiring a hardware security key”.

“This strengthens our already strong two-factor authentication by making it impossible for even the most sophisticated of attackers to steal the second authentication element in a phishing attempt.”

Security for prominent persons

Apple has said that although anybody is welcome to utilise the function, it was developed with celebrities in mind. However, “concerted threats against their internet accounts” are most common among prominent personalities like celebrities, journalists, and government personnel.

Once an iPhone user authenticates their device, Apple claims they won’t have to do it again, even if they upgrade to a new iPhone, since the system is integrated into Apple’s device-to-device transfer procedure (as long as they use the device-to-device setup transfer process, it said).

If the user is already signed into Apple ID on a trusted device and attempts authentication using the Security Key, the device will not be signed out.

Don’t hold your breath for any new Apple products, however, since the company has said emphatically that it has no plans to create such hardware keys. To that end, it is seeking to integrate with external parties.

According to Apple, a recent analysis titled “The increasing danger to customer data in the cloud” highlights the urgent need for improved security measures. The report, authored by MIT Sloan School of Management emeritus professor Dr. Stuart Madnick, states that the number of data breaches will have increased by more than threefold between 2013 and 2021, with more than a billion individual records being made available to the general public in that year alone.