Passwords Are Dead – But What Will Replace Them?

• In Event: The Dynamics And Regulation Of Online Criminal Markets

Abstract

Authentication is an essential necessity for securing any computerized system. Today, the average user has about 40 personal and professional accounts that rely on user names and passwords for authentication. These logins are rarely unique, hardly ever changed, oftentimes simplistic, and rely on insecure “security questions” fallback options because they are regularly forgotten and reset. This reliance on obsolete password-based authentication systems arguably poses the single greatest security challenge in today’s networked world, leading large Internet companies to declare 2014 the year that the password as we know it will come to an end. But while the consensus that passwords are obsolete is almost unanimous, the search for new replacement technologies poses great challenges and produces widely different solutions. This presentation will detail why passwords are the weakest links in current security chains and shed light on the various approaches to replace them, ranging from simple two-factor models to obscure ideas involving electronic tattoos and edible electronic pills.

Author

• Michael Bachmann, Texas Christian University