Are passwords on their way out? What`s next in tech.

As our technology evolves, we are able to leave certain outdated things in the past.
VCRs are antiques when 20 years ago everyone had one to record all of our favorite TV shows. They are the quintessential reason it was OK to go out to dinner on a Thursday was that the VCR could be set to record “Seinfeld” and “Friends”.

We all had a landline with an answering machine in case someone was calling our home and wanted to leave a message. Now both are relatively defunct services replaced by smartphones that have that function plus 70 others.

The question now turns to passwords. They have to be infinitely complicated so that they cannot be guessed by a hacker os his technology,.They have to be changed regularly, and they have to not line up with any password you’ve ever had, past or current.

We constantly put up walls around ourselves for password use. When will we start building a bridge to make it easier for ourselves to use them?

Getting Rid of Passwords for Good

If you’ve ever used your thumb to gain entry into the pool in your neighborhood, you've already launched beyond password. Your thumb is now your password and nobody else has the same one which means nobody but you can ever use your thumb to gain entry. The problem is that this technology is not precise enough yet to not give access to someone with a thumbprint quite similar to yours. This technology is pushing forward with face masking, which reds the components of your face as a way to grant you access. It is more advanced than the thumbprint but it has its disadvantages as well, like someone showing a picture of you and being able to pass that off as the actual you.       

Another way is called a single-sign-on, which means you start your workday by going to a third-party vendor website and it grats you the dashboard of what you need to access for the day It logs you into all your different passwords without you seeing a single one of them. The risk there is if there is a data breach at the third-part app. 

Finally, there is the consideration of the password manager such as the one provided by Dashlane, which is becoming increasingly popular because it eliminates all the complex passwords but one. Surely we can all remember just one password and then use it over and over to unlock the rest? 

The Other passwords, the ones that actually become part of your user name at individual websites, are locked away in a cyber vault somewhere. Even better, those real passwords are being changed every 90 days or so to a new long and bizarre string of characters that you done to worry about. As long as you can remember the one master password, you never have to sweat the rest and know that your information is in the utmost care when it comes to security. Know the master password and you know everything.