World Password Day: Is it time to do away with the traditional password?
- Date: 02 May, 2019
Another day, another data breach… We’re 121 days into 2019 and 27 mass data breaches have already come to light according to breach tracking website Have I Been Pwned. And those are just the big ones. Data from Statista shows that 1.24 million breaches occurred in the United States alone in 2018.
This compromised data usually ends up on the dark web, where it is sold on to cybercriminals who use these login details to carry out credential stuffing attacksin an attempt to gain access to unsecured user accounts.
We’ve all heard the advice – don’t use the same password for two services; don’t use simple or frequently used passwords; use special characters and numbers. Yet, according to the National Cyber Security Centre, this advice continues to fall on deaf ears – 3.6 million people use “password” as a password, while 23.2 million opt for “123456”.
Biometrics
Biometrics are becoming more widely used as a form of protection in the smartphone market, with consumers now able to unlock their devices using fingerprints and facial recognition technology. Iris scanners and voice recognition technology is also starting to make an impact.
While biometrics are often tipped as the future of passwords, experts are quick to note one major flaw – just like passwords, biometric data can be stolen too.
“Biometric verification doesn’t have to rely on your physical appearance alone" Melanie Jones, Product Director for Cybersecurity at Global Knowledge, explains. "As well as physical characteristics, behaviour characteristics such as the rhythm of typing or our voice can also be used to provide a line of defence against hackers."
Source: Verdict - read full article.
