A Beginner's Deep Dive Guide to Entra Passkeys

Passkeys are phishing-resistant authentication methods that Microsoft Entra now fully supports, offering greater security than passwords without complex configuration requirements. Passkeys work by creating a key pair during registration—a private key stored securely on the user's device and a public key stored in Entra ID—and use the WebAuthn protocol to verify users through cryptographic signatures rather than reusable credentials. They satisfy multi-factor authentication requirements by combining device possession with biometric or PIN verification, and can be stored as device-bound passkeys or synced passkeys across multiple devices via authenticator apps or password managers.