myGov is among the first digital government services in the world to implement passkeys—a simple, fast and more secure way to sign in.
Minister for Government Services and the NDIS the Hon. Bill Shorten MP 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,” Minister Shorten 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.
“Once you’ve created your passkey, you can sign in to myGov the same way as you would to unlock your device, using fingerprint or facial recognition, a PIN or swipe pattern.
“Passkeys work like a pair of keys – a private key stored on your device or in your password manager and a public key, which is kept with myGov.
“These two keys work together to sign you in to your myGov account, meaning they won’t work with fake websites.”
Minister 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,” Minister Shorten said.
"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.
“However, passkeys may not suit people using older devices, or public and shared devices.
“In these cases, consider other strong sign in options, such as a Digital ID, which proves who you are when using online services; or use a strong and unique myGov passphrase and a two factor authentication option like codes sent by SMS.”
For more information on passkeys, go to my.gov.au/passkeys
A video news release is available at https://youtu.be/9FCuUEKl6Ao