Password Manager Dashlane wants to eliminate the master password

Martin Brinkmann
May 4, 2023
Security
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Password management service Dashlane announced plans to eliminate the master password; this password is used currently to unlock a user's vault at the service.

The company announced support for passkeys in its app for Android in February 2023 already, stating that Dashlane users could sign-in using passkeys and also manage passkeys of other services and sites using the password manager.

Passwordless is a relatively new trend, pushed by the FIDO Alliance and its members, which include Microsoft, Apple and Google among others. The system creates keys for individual services, apps and sites on the device and uses these for authentication. Users just have to enter their PIN or use other forms of authentication, such as biometric authentication, on the device to complete the process.

Common threats, such as phishing, brute forcing, or attempts to break into services to dump password information do not work anymore when passkeys are used.

Also useful: should you use a browser's password manager or a dedicated service?

Allowing users to use a passwordless authentication system eliminates the need for users to remember a single secure password, which they use to unlock the password manager's vault.

Dashlane notes: "We are proud to announce our plan to release passwordless login for Dashlane later this year, which allows users to create new phishing-resistant, passwordless accounts that don’t suffer from the vulnerabilities of traditional passwords and multifactor authentication (MFA). Users will have the option to create an account without having to set up and remember a Master Password."

Dashlane customers may create an account without a master password on mobile devices going forward, according to the announcement. The device's PIN or biometric authentication is used to access the account's data. A recovery key may be used to regain access to the data, even if access to all devices set up for Dashlane use is lost.

Dashlane wants to extend the passwordless login option to existing customers in the future as well, allowing them to migrate from using a master password to the passwordless sign-in option.

The company has produced a video that demonstrates the functionality.

Dashlane is not the only service that prepares its service for a passwordless future. NordPass announced support for passkeys recently and Google announced this week that its customers may now switch to using passkeys as well.

Passwordless logins are an option in all of these cases. Users may set up their accounts to use passkeys, but they do not have to. Passwords won't go away any time soon, but their dominance will get smaller in the coming years.

Now You: are you using passkeys already?

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Password Manager Dashlane wants to eliminate the master password
Article Name
Password Manager Dashlane wants to eliminate the master password
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Password management service Dashlane announced plans to eliminate the master password; this password is used currently to unlock a user's vault at the service.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Pojan said on May 4, 2023 at 11:58 am
    Reply

    *main password
    Master is a problematic word.

    1. Anonymous said on May 5, 2023 at 7:27 pm
      Reply

      What a crock of s*&$. There are real problems to concentrate on!

    2. Anonymous said on May 5, 2023 at 12:02 am
      Reply

      They should whitelist then.

    3. Anonymous said on May 4, 2023 at 3:24 pm
      Reply

      just for those who are doomed to only see the negative connections in everything.
      its actually these ppl who reinforce the problematic bias, carburazing a status quo, instead of beeing smart and turn eg a word into something good by using it in a good context, but no.. sooner or later there wont be any words left to use b/c every word will have some negative context bound to it.
      btw bdsm ppl approve master as a very good word ;)

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