myGov gets 20,000 passkey signups in a week

Various news sources have reported that more than 20,000 users have set up passkeys in the myGov account since they became available at the beginning of July.

myGov is among the first digital government services in the world to implement passkeys and do away with passwords. In a press release on 4 July, Minister for Government Services and the NDIS, Bill Shorten, said myGov has joined the growing number of online services around the world using passkeys, a more secure sign-in option than passwords.

“Passkeys are already in use across many international online services like Apple, PayPal, Microsoft and Google, but myGov is among the first government platforms in the world to use the digital key,” he said. “I am proud that myGov is leading the way for Australian government services with passkeys now available to make accounts safer.

“With phishing scams becoming more common and more sophisticated, passkeys make it simpler for you to sign in. Using a passkey and turning off your myGov password as a sign-in option also makes it harder for scammers to access accounts using stolen usernames and passwords.

Shorten said passkeys can be used across both mobile and desktop devices.

“Within days of passkeys being available on myGov, over 20,000 Australians have already created a passkey for their myGov account,” he added. “In most cases, your passkey is saved in your password manager and if you sync across your devices, you can use the same myGov passkey on both your mobile and desktop.”

For more information on passkeys, go to my.gov.au/passkeys.

Image credit: iStock.com/ArtemisDiana