Passwords or biometric solutions? What does the future hold?

In a scenario where owning a smartphone is a must, and having an internet connection is the norm, we spend a significant part of our lives in the digital world. Biometric solutions play an important role in providing security. 

In the online world, we are living a virtual life where we can make friends, engage in conversations with them, make purchases or have fun with different websites or apps. And this is great, but there are some risks involved.

In real life, our security is always among our main concerns. We like to feel safe, and that’s the reason why our doors have keys and our homes have alarms. The same is true in digital environments.

Protecting our information and identity on the Internet has traditionally been performed on a user / password basis. But this mechanism has weaknesses. Using biometrics or tokens as other authentication factors provides an extra security layer, reducing the risk of identity theft.

But which of these two techniques (passwords or biometrics) will mark the future of digital security? Let’s dive into them.

The problems with passwords

Our computer devices contain a large amount of personal data collected from our digital activity, hence the importance of using security mechanisms to protect it. Passwords were created with the aim of protecting our online information from being accessed by others.

The most effective way to establish secure passwords is by using a combination of alphanumeric digits that are difficult to figure out, and changing them from time to time. This can be a tedious and sometimes impossible task, due to the number of different accounts people have. 

But the main problem with passwords is the human factor. Let’s admit it: human beings are imperfect by nature. In the case of passwords, humans are the weakest link in the online security chain. As a consequence, security levels decrease considerably:

• On one hand, If we set up passwords complex to guess, they will be difficult to remember, on the other hand, if we choose to use passwords that are easy to remember, they will be easy to steal.
• People are more likely to use the same password for several different accounts. If a hacker steals the password, they will have access to the information for several accounts.
• We don’t really take into account the consequences of sharing our personal information… our lives on the internet.  The use of social networks can affect the security of our passwords. How? Very simply, many passwords are created using personal data, such as the name of our pets or the anniversary of a couple.

Due to all these issues, passwords are not secure anymore. Cyberattack hackers can easily steal passwords and gain access to people’s information. 

To avoid this risk, we must consider other methods that are more difficult to hack. Next, we will discuss systems that use physiological and behavioural traits as access keys, i.e. biometric identification systems.