UK.gov begins killing off passwords for 23 million users
- ID
- 24139
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 14 Sep 2026, 5:16 PM
- Fetched
- 14 Sep 2026, 5:58 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/09/14/ukgov-begins-killing-off-passwords-for-23-million-users/5296088
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 6.5
- Created
- 14 Sep 2026, 6:02 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developerssaas_founders
What happened
The UK government is expanding passkey support across GOV.UK One Login after a 300,000-user trial, giving 23 million users the option to sign in with device biometrics or PINs instead of passwords plus SMS 2FA. Nearly 1 in 10 daily logins already use passkeys, which the government says are up to 8x faster and are saving ~£600/day in SMS costs. Passwords remain available as a fallback.
Why it matters
If you run any app with SMS-based 2FA, this is a concrete data point for building the internal case to add passkeys: the UK.gov trial shows real cost savings and speed gains at national scale. Builders in Malaysia handling government or high-volume consumer auth should evaluate passkey support now, since MCMC and MyDigital initiatives often track UK.gov digital identity patterns.
Discussion angle
What would it take to push passkey adoption in Malaysian government services like MyDigital ID, and where does SMS 2FA cost still dominate local auth budgets?