We have been using passwords to log in since the first computers. Still, Microsoft, among others, is looking ahead to a completely passwordless future.
Passwords remain the weakest part of online security. Only one hack or data breach is needed and your passwords are on the street, after which a cybercriminal can access all your sensitive information.
There are several ways to make passwords as robust as possible. For example, you can create unique, long passwords with a password manager. It is also wise to protect accounts via two-step verification, so that you have to prove your identity in a second way.
Yet that feels like making do: as if you keep fitting locks on a door, while it is almost falling apart. That door remains a weakness, just as passwords remain an easy target for hackers. Tech giants are therefore busy making the password disappear.
Microsoft
Microsoft is leading the way when it comes to password-less login. With Windows Hello, facial recognition or a fingerprint is enough to get into the computer. Windows is not unique in this, because modern MacBook laptops from Apple can also be unlocked via a fingerprint.
In addition, the company offers the Microsoft Authenticator app. Such apps are usually used to generate codes for extra security in addition to a password, but the app can also be used to enter somewhere passwordless.
The third option is a USB key or a device with an NFC chip to log in with, which Microsoft also calls ‘biometric wearables’. This is a relatively new category of wearable devices that analyze your body and behavior to verify that it is really you.
Knowing, being and having
In practice, the passwordless future will come down to multi-factor authentication. You can verify your identity online in three different ways. With something you know, like a password. Something that you are, like your unique fingerprint or face. And something you have, like an app on your phone or a USB key. Multi-factor authentication means that several of these methods are combined.
This is now usually done primarily via a password (something you know) and also a code on your phone (something you have). In the passwordless future, the focus will be on something you are and have.
That future is already partly visible. For example, we increasingly unlock our devices with our face or a finger instead of a PIN code. However, the alternatives are not foolproof. If the technology behind facial recognition is not very strong, for example, the system can be fooled relatively easily.
Still, it is inevitable that more and more companies will switch to new forms of authentication in the coming years, because the password is simply the least secure option.
The majority of your online accounts will continue to work with passwords for the time being. That is why it is still important to properly protect your passwords. If you already throw in several forms of verification, it doesn’t matter much if the password eventually disappears.
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