In any cyber-infrastructure, one of the weakest points in security is the password. One of the gravest and most common cybersecurity issues always occurs when a staff member changes or creates a password.
That’s when Susan from accounts uses Sprinkles1234 after her new puppy. Or, when Lewis from Marketing replicates the same password over three different platforms.
Even strong passwords can be hacked.
Microsoft have recently announced their journey into password-less authentication, and it is a great thing for business security. Here’s why.
Passwords are inconvenient for the user
Let’s be honest. One of the worst parts of opening any form of online account is knowing that they are going to ask you for a secure password that you are going to need to remember or have stored somewhere.
And you know all the parameters. Eight letters long. At least one capital letter, one number, one special character, one ancient Egyptian hieroglyph; and you are going to need to remember it.
Oh, and it needs to be different from every other password that you use everywhere else on the world wide web.
It is no wonder everyone resorts to cycling through the same three or four passwords, using variations of the same one everywhere, or leaving them written down or stored unsafely in notes on their phone.
The human memory may be great for useless bits of pub quiz trivia, but not so great for storing passwords.
How do password-less logins work?
The concept is fairly simple. Password-less authentication seeks to find other ways of identifying the user without having to use the traditional “username + password” route.
There are various different ways that this is achieved:
• OTPS – one-time pins provided to the user through a verified device. The pin often expires within a few minutes.
• Biometrics – Biometric systems are more difficult to fool as it uses visual tracking to identify the user.
• Fingerprints – An authentication based upon a unique physical identification.
• Push Notifications – Push notifications use an app combined with a platform login. Works similarly to OTPS.
Benefits of password-less authentication
There are obvious security benefits to eliminating passwords. After all, cybercriminals have gradually become more sophisticated. Ransomware, phishing, and smishing, among others, all rely upon exposing the weakest part of a business’ cyber infrastructure. Often, this weakness is the human element.
By eliminating unsafe password management techniques and cutting credential theft and impersonation, your business’ data is secured.
But it also improves the user experience and simplifies IT Operations for everyone involved.
Protect your business with password-less authentication
It is with a heavy sigh of relief that we can now begin to suggest that passwords are becoming a thing of the past. Cybersecurity is a war that is unlikely to ever be fully won; but we can make it difficult for cybercriminals to access our business data.
If you would like to discuss password-less authentication for your business and customers, please call us on 01327 300311 or complete our short contact form.
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