Given the obvious downsides to traditional online passwords, companies including Apple and Microsoft are ditching them in favor of more secure alternatives like fingerprint recognition, authentication apps and facial recognition. Inc. details these alternatives:
An estimated 80 percent of data breaches are linked to compromised passwords.
Password managers can be helpful, but even those require people to remember the answers to security questions.
Given the obvious downsides to traditional passwords, companies including Apple and Microsoft are ditching them in favor of more secure alternatives like fingerprint recognition, authentication apps, and facial recognition. Other companies are trying to simplify matters by relying on social-media logins, known as the OAuth protocol, which allows users to sign-in through Google, Facebook, or another third-party service.
“Billions of passwords have been compromised in data breaches, and criminals test millions of them in minutes, if not seconds, against websites they target to find accessible accounts,” says Al Pascual, senior vice president of data breach solutions at Sontiq, an identity theft prevention firm. “That kind of threat requires businesses to add additional authenticators, adding more cost and negatively impacting their bottom line.”
Biometric tools, as long as they don’t require a password if they fail, are the most secure method, says Pascual. The most common biometrics are facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. A number of automakers, such as Buick, Porsche, and BMW, have already designed cars that use facial recognition to start the vehicle or monitor alertness. Many mobile banking apps now use facial recognition. And more businesses now use timecard systems with fingerprint scanners.
