In a world where cybersecurity threats are growing at an unprecedented rate, the prospect of a password-less future is no longer only some pipe dream—it is reality. For decades, passwords have been the accepted guardians to our digital lives, but data breaches, hacking attempts, and phishing scams all grow more sophisticated while their weaknesses become more apparent. Today’s industry leaders—like Google, Apple, and Microsoft—are betting on a future in which passwords will not exist. Instead, they suggest the future will be more secure and liquid: no passwords. Both news sources, *The Verge* and *Wired* have covered this trend in depth, and news is coming fast and furious.
The Trouble with Passwords
Passwords have been the primary method of accessing everything from an email account to banking services since the dawn of the Internet Age. Despite their ubiquity, passwords are also filled with problems: many rely on puny, easily guessable login credentials, or worse, reuse their passwords for other ends. According to *The New York Times*, an alarming 80 percent of hacking-related breaches can be connected to passwords—by weak or compromised credentials.
Although the human factor has magnified this issue, users forget their passwords, write them down in insecure places, or fall victim to phishing schemes that deceive them into revealing their credentials. The above weaknesses have created a situation whereby traditional passwords are now more of a liability than an asset for securing digital identities.
Now, with constant disappointment and frustration growing over passwords, major tech giants want something better. The question is no longer if passwords will fall but when.
Passwordless Authentication on the Rise
Many alternative forms of authentication already storm the tech world. Thanks to the broad penetration of biometric technology by smartphone manufacturers, functions like fingerprint scanning and facial recognition are increasingly applied. The incorporation of Apple’s Face ID and Google’s fingerprint authentication is a perfect example of how authentic biometric solutions have become in today’s technology.
Further, FIDO Alliance, with sponsors including Google, Microsoft, and Apple, has been spearheading the revolution of passwordless. The organization describes its work in designing an open standard for simpler and stronger ways of authentication. In a report published in 2020, *The Verge* finds that one major building block toward reaching the future passwordless “is FIDO’s WebAuthn standard.” This approach combines biometric information with hardware security keys to authenticate users without the use of traditional passwords.
There are numerous companies, such as Microsoft, that have been vocal about supporting the cultural shift away from passwords. The company blogged in 2021 that it had vision for a “passwordless future,” with users logging in to Outlook and OneDrive without typing a password but instead logging in using the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, or a physical security key. Millions of Microsoft users make a switch to passwordless logins by 2022, marking an important milestone in the company’s security initiative broader than this, according to CNBC.
A Secure and Seamless Future
The advantages of a passwordless world go well beyond just security. Probably the most significant one is that of convenience. Passwords have been a drag for years for users; they have to be lengthy, cryptic, and frequently changed to be secure, but this often leads to forgetting them. Moving over to biometrics or security keys lets the user access his accounts faster and easier, without any compromise in security.
In addition to ease, they also offer better security. Biometric data cannot be guessed or acquired like a password, and it is unique from any other user. Other hardware keys available, such as the YubiKey, can also offer additional security since the device used needs to be held in conjunction with possession of the key itself. These advancements prevent as well as reduce vulnerability to phishing attacks—the cause of most lost data today.
Apple, Google, and Microsoft announced in May 2022 that they will increase their solutions for passwordless, and all three companies have made a commitment to standardize the passwordless sign-in on the FIDO Alliance and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Cited by *TechCrunch*, the new standard will enable users to sign in for websites and apps minus using their password but rather using biometrics or a PIN that are stored on a device and synced up through cloud services. The move would secure and offer a seamless login experience to users across different platforms and devices, continually reducing dependency on the password.
Roadblocks to Enabling Adoption
The whole future of passwordless authentication is promising, but this also presents challenges. The largest challenge to adoption will be the hurdle of trying to convince most users and businesses to switch to a new system. Most users and businesses are still on passwords, and the efforts and educations required in changing them consume a lot of time. However, small businesses may face great hardships as far as technology adoption is concerned, due to the costs and required infrastructural setup.
Another issue is privacy. The biometric data, as secure as the information that it provides, raises questions of how it is stored and then used. Companies have to ensure that the users’ biometric data are kept confidential and not misused or kept in a manner to potentially bring about privacy violations. Governments must step forward and intervene over the handling of biometric data and have very stringent standards for the public and private sectors to use them.
In addition, hardware security keys are quite a strong form of protection; however, they are not perfect. Users have to be able to account for their keys and, in cases where they misplace one, may end up getting locked out of some important accounts.
The Future Is Now
Despite these issues, the journey toward a passwordless future is already under way. Giant technology companies are leading the charge in eliminating the password, and public sensibilities are changing to more effectively embrace concepts like using biometrics or physical keys instead of traditional passwords.
As more companies adopt these technologies and as standards such as FIDO’s WebAuthn catch on, we can start to look forward to this future where we eliminate passwords. Says *Wired*, the passwords will be all but over by 2030; instead, stronger, more secure ways of authentication will prevail.
Such a world of no passwords is no longer the stuff of fantasy. This is a future that increasingly reveals itself day by day, one in which security, privacy, and convenience blend together.
