Although online identification is difficult to breach, it is becoming increasingly clear that we should get rid of passwords as soon as possible. Passwords have several weaknesses that put corporate users, consumers, and the online community at risk, as users rely on them to access everything online. The problem is that these secret codes don't stay that secret after all.
Passwords hide a series of weaknesses that concern both their functionality and the way we use them. This creates three main issues:
Passwords can be easily compromised and reused. The passwords we use to authenticate and gain access online are easily lost or stolen by hackers . As has been proven in recent years, passwords are not secure and do not keep data protected. Several of the most recent large-scale data breaches involved the loss of passwords , which allowed hackers to extract important information that they then used to access personal, corporate or financial information. Although a company may have data encryption for stolen passwords , if the encryption system is not strong then a skilled hacker can quickly decrypt them, leaving them completely exposed. Most worryingly, however, is that uncontrolled reuse of passwords across multiple websites leads to a serious issue for the user’s entire online identity. Since a hacker can gain access to an account's password , they can find a way to breach anything.
Recovery is weakened. If a user loses or forgets their password , the traditional password recovery method requires a series of answers that only the actual account operator should know. Unfortunately , these are additional passwords that are often easy to guess based on the information a user has online . Hackers can also steal passwords through social engineering @mat. This method often involves exploiting users who have access to your own information. Two such cases include the @NTwitter identities of and .
Users do not use strong passwords . Password creation is up to the user, but they usually do not pay much attention to creating strong passwords . You would be surprised to see how many users use “1234” or “ love ” or the keyboard sequence “ qwerty ” as passwords. This often leads to strong attacks that try a series of passwords in combination with usernames .
The good news is that a number of alternatives are emerging. Two powerful drivers of change: handheld computers that are a physical extension of our identity, and the integration of biometric fingerprints for greater security.
Want to learn more? Check out Symantec 's presentation : Entering aPassword-. Free World
Source: secnews.gr
