The End of Passwords
Finally it seems … the penny has dropped. Passwords are a poor substitute for real online security. There is more and more ‘chatter’ about it. Robin Henry writing in the Sunday Times on New Years Day talks of the end of ‘password hell’ invoking solutions in the pipeline from the Web Gods – Apple and Google. The talk is of new biometric solutions such as facial and hand movement recognition. Even IBM is talking this way. ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2011/12/20/ibms-tech-predictions-for-the-next-5-years/ ) I agree with the notion that passwords are a dying breed but not that biometrics will become vogue. They are fraught with problems of their own such as reliability, accuracy and the need for referencing of data-bases ( fail !) . Why are passwords defunct? Basically they are difficult to remember and they are easy to steal. The solutions needed are those that require no cognitive l...