Today on Elixir Wizards, Owen Bickford, fellow Wizard and creator of the WebauthnComponents library, joins us to talk about building passwordless authentication for Phoenix LiveView applications. Owen walks us through the evolution of authentication—touching on everything from plain text passwords to multi-factor setups—and explains the security flaws and user experience issues each method presents. He describes passkeys, a solution based on the WebAuthn API, which improves security and ease of use.

The conversation covers cross-device support for passkeys, the role of password managers in keeping credentials synced, and ideas for enhancing WebauthnComponents, like supporting multiple passkeys per account. Owen invites listeners to contribute to the library’s development on GitHub and emphasizes the role passkeys play in improving app security and user experience.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Passkeys and the shift toward passwordless authentication
• WebAuthn API and its role in secure login systems
• Creating the WebauthnComponents library for Phoenix LiveView
• History of authentication from basic passwords to multi-factor approaches
• Security gaps and user experience challenges with traditional methods
• Asymmetric cryptography’s impact on secure logins
• Hardware-based credential storage and generation with Trusted Platform Modules
• Structure and components of the WebAuthn library: dependencies, LiveViews, and Ecto schemas
• Live components for real-time server-browser interactions
• Passkeys as a primary or secondary authentication method
• Key business considerations when choosing authentication methods
• Cross-device support for passkeys and credential syncing
• Strategies for passkey recovery if devices are lost
• Ensuring secure access in unattended environments
• Elixir’s ecosystem advantages for building authentication systems
• Simplifying JavaScript complexity within Elixir projects
• Future-proofing WebAuthn Components for seamless updates
• Using Igniter to enhance customization and refactoring
• Developer-friendly tools for secure authentication
• Inviting community contributions on GitHub and the Elixir forum
• Plans for telemetry and performance tracking
• Why adopting passkeys is a win for app security and user experience

Links mentioned:

https://github.com/liveshowy/webauthn_components
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_table
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication
https://oauth.net/2/
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Authentication_API
https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn-3/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/tips/windows-hello
https://trustedcomputinggroup.org/resource/trusted-platform-module-tpm-summary/
https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/mix_phx_gen_auth.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography
SSH Protocol (Secure Shell) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell
https://www.yubico.com/products/yubikey-5-overview/
https://fidoalliance.org/how-fido-works/
https://1password.com/
https://keepassxc.org/
https://hexdocs.pm/ecto_ulid/Ecto.ULID.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier
https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.Schema.html
https://hexdocs.pm/sourceror/
https://github.com/ash-project/igniter
Forum thread:
https://elixirforum.com/t/webauthnlivecomponent-passwordless-auth-for-liveview-apps/49941