Are you looking for a safe password? You can give HQbgbiZVu9AWcqoSZmChwgtMYTrM7HE3ObVWGepMeOsJf4iHMyNXMT1BrySA4d7 a try. Try memorizing it.
Passwords Can Be Replaced With 'passthoughts' The Help Of A New Device
A report has said that researchers have now created a new device that would replace passwords with 'passthoughts' for computer authentication.
A report has said that researchers have now created a new device that would replace passwords with 'passthoughts' for computer authentication.
And besides, with technology growing by leaps and bounds, why does the username-and-password formula -- a relic of computing's Jurassic era -- remain the norm?
"The incredibly short answer is, it's cheap," said Per Thorsheim, a Norwegian online security expert and organizer of PasswordsCon, the world's only conference dedicated to passwords, taking place in Las Vegas in July.
Bad Grammar, Spelling Mistakes Make Good Password
Scientists have cracked the key to finding more secure code - don't use good grammar or spelling.
Scientists have cracked the key to finding more secure code - don't use good grammar or spelling.
"And that will cost you extra money."
Advertisement
25 Most Common Never to Be Used Passwords Revealed!
The top three passwords of the year are 'password', '123456' and '12345678', a new survey has showed.
The top three passwords of the year are 'password', '123456' and '12345678', a new survey has showed.
The very first computers were not only room-sized mainframes, but also stand-alone devices. They didn't connect to each other, so passwords were needed only by a handful of operators who likely knew each other anyway.
Advertisement
Study: One in Nine Still Use 'easy to Crack' '1234' as Their ATM PINS and Passwords
One in nine people still use '1234' as their PIN or passwords says a new study.
One in nine people still use '1234' as their PIN or passwords says a new study.
Passwords have thus proliferated so much that it's a daily struggle for users to cope with dozens of them -- and not just on one personal computer, but across several devices.
There's even a name for the syndrome: password fatigue.
"People never took passwords very seriously, and then we had a number of really big password breaches," said Marian Merritt, Internet security advocate for software provider Norton.
"As people are increasingly accessing websites from smartphones and tablets, typing passwords is becoming an ever bigger pain," added Sarah Needham of Confident Technologies, developers of a picture-based password alternative.
In a 24-nation survey last year, Norton found that 40 percent of users don't bother with complex passwords or fail to change their passwords on a regular basis.
Rival security app firm McAfee says its research indicates that more than 60 percent of users regularly visit five to 20 websites that require passwords, and that a like-sized proportion preferred easy-to-use passwords.
The most popular passwords, infamously, are "password" and "123456," according to Mark Burnett, whose 2005 book "Perfect Password: Selection, Protection, Authentication" was among the first on the topic.
Carl Windsor, director of product management at California-based network security firm Fortinet, said he once ran John the Ripper, a free program to crack passwords, through an employer's Unix system with its consent.
Within seconds, Windsor had one-third of its passwords. Within minutes, he had another third. "I also won a bet by finding the 'super secure' password of a colleague in less than five minutes," he told AFP by email.
Password alternatives are in the pipeline.
Google is toying with the idea of users tapping their devices with personalized coded finger rings or inserting unique ID cards called Yubikeys into the USB ports of their computers.
The FIDO Alliance, a consortium that includes PayPal, is pushing an open-source system in which, for instance, websites would ask smartphone users to identify themselves by placing their fingertips on their touchscreens.
"These (biometric) technologies are coming to a place where they are highly mature, cost effective and in a position to roll out into the consumer market today," FIDO's vice president Ramesh Kesanupalli told AFP.
Kesanupalli said FIDO technology could be available as early as this year, bettering IBM fellow David Nahamoo's prediction in 2011 that biometrics would replace passwords within five years.
In Washington, the US Patent and Trademark Office has recently published several patent applications from Apple that envision facial recognition and fingerprint scanning.
Motorola's head of research Regina Dugan has gone further, proposing a "password pill" with a microchip and a battery that would be activated by stomach acid. The resulting signal would emit an unique ID radio signal.
"I take a vitamin every morning. What if I take vitamin authentication?" said Dugan at the D11 tech conference in California last month, quoted by TechWeekEurope.co.uk.
For now, many Internet services are embracing two-factor authentication, that challenges users with a bonus security question -- like "What is your dog's name?" -- or emits a one-use-only numeric code via SMS messaging.
Online password managers with names like Lastpass, KeePass, 1Password, Dashlane and Apple's just-announced iCloud Keychain have also been popping up like mushrooms.
They pledge to securely stash an individual's entire password collection, accessible via one master password. Some experts, however, consider the idea a Band-Aid solution pending the definitive password replacement.
Until then, security experts widely agree on two core principles: make your passwords as long as possible, mixing up words with some numbers and symbols, and never ever use the same password for more than one website.
Beyond that, just cross your fingers and pray that the website you're using is doing all it can at its end to protect the mental keys to your virtual world.
Source-AFP
