Passkeys & the Future of Authentication: Not a Trend (with Massi Gori)

What’s driving the passkeys authentication trend and the shift away from passwords? In this episode of Nerding Out with Viktor, Viktor welcomes Massi Gori, staff product manager at Canonical, to unpack the biggest authentication trends shaping our digital lives.

From the early days of LDAP and Kerberos to the rise of SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect, Massi breaks down the evolution of identity management and explains why passkeys are gaining momentum. They explore how WebAuthn and FIDO2 work under the hood, why MFA is evolving, and what a passwordless future really means.

This conversation is for security pros and anyone curious about where authentication is headed, what zero trust really looks like in practice, and how tools like YubiKeys and biometric login fit into the bigger picture.

You’ll learn about:
*The shift toward passkeys and what’s fueling it
*How FIDO2 and WebAuthn work (without the jargon)
*MFA, soft tokens, and security beyond passwords
*Federation, identity governance, and zero-trust models
*Why server access needs a security upgrade
*How everyday users benefit from enterprise-grade protection

Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome & intro
02:00 - Massi’s journey into identity and authentication
05:00 - A quick history of authentication systems
08:30 - Key concepts: authentication vs authorization
12:00 - How authentication standards have evolved
18:00 - The rise of MFA and smarter security layers
25:00 - Exploring FIDO2, WebAuthn & passkeys
36:00 - Balancing user experience with security
45:00 - Enterprise identity, servers & zero trust
58:00 - Final thoughts & where authentication is headed