Why are Passwords Soon to be Considered an Old School Method of Security?
Most internet users are aware of how weak the protection is from passwords. There are regular stories in the news about data breaches where thousands of passwords have been compromised. One of the main problems is down to the fact that the eCommerce industry is growing exponentially, and people are having to join a greater number of sites than ever before. A staggering 2.14 billion people are expected to shop online in 2021, for everything from food to clothing. With each site requiring a password, how are people supposed to remember what they used to log on at each one? It’s difficult, and this is why so many people opt for the least secure method of using the same login details everywhere.
What Types of Authentications are There as Alternatives?
It has been clear for some time that passwords are on the way out, and the evidence has been in the fact that modern devices are now being kitted out with biometric scanners. Smartphone and laptop users can now log into their devices using fingerprints or facial recognition, meaning that passwords on these pieces of tech will soon be obsolete. Website owners can begin preparing for this as there are now services that enable them to put passwordless login options on their sites. The WordPress authentication plugin, for instance, allows for biometric logins as it integrates FIDO-based biometrics and OpenID Connect (OIDC) into the web apps. This one-click solution is easy to integrate and user-friendly, in that users will be able to sign in with their fingerprint or facial recognition and will be protected against password-related attacks.
Integration Between Devices Could be Key
It seems that for biometric technology to take over from passwords, it will require all internet users to have these capabilities on the devices with which they are accessing the internet. Currently, most of the high-end smartphones and laptops on the market have these features, but they are not ubiquitous across all brands and models. This means that business pages that require authentication can’t go fully passwordless yet. They will only be able to do this when passwords have become a thing of the past on internet-ready devices. Passwords have only existed for this long because the technology wasn’t advanced enough to allow for an alternative. Now that biometric scanning is more accurate than ever before, the time has come for society to start shifting away from this outdated log-in method. Businesses and internet users need to begin preparing for this future.
