Singapore (VNA) – Starting July 1, Singapore officially rolled out a new passkey authentication feature on its Singpass digital identity application, aiming to strengthen cybersecurity and curb online scams that have caused losses amounting to tens of millions of Singapore dollars (SGD) in recent years.
According to the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech Singapore), passkeys use a pair of cryptographic keys, with one key stored on the user’s device and the other maintained within the Singpass system. This mechanism ensures that users can only log in to legitimate websites integrated with Singpass, while preventing fraudulent websites from stealing or misusing authentication credentials such as passwords or QR codes.
Passkeys are directly linked to Singpass’s official login domain and therefore cannot function on spoofed websites. The new feature is expected to pave the way for the eventual elimination of passwords altogether.
Singpass currently has around 5.5 million users and is integrated with more than 1,400 services offered by government agencies and private-sector organisations in Singapore, including the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), the Central Provident Fund (CPF), the HealthHub healthcare portal, DBS Bank and Singtel.
Under the plan, iPhone users are the first group to register for and use passkeys through the Singpass application starting July 1, with the feature set to be extended to Android devices in the near future. To activate the feature, users only need to complete a one-time registration through the Singpass app./.
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