We live in a time of rapidly advancing technology. Interconnectivity has brought the world closer than it’s ever been before, however, it’s also made our personal information far more vulnerable as a result.
Passwords have long been seen as the cornerstone of online security. Whenever we indulge in internet shopping, or access work emails, or log in to our online banking, we’re protected by a network of passwords that are designed to keep our data safe.
But do passwords really bring peace of mind and security at a time when hackers have so many tools at their disposal that can force breaches?
In 2017, Centrify, a leading digital security organization, found that 81% of data breaches involved compromised credentials. This, according to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), represents an alarming increase from 50%, to 60% to over four-fifths of breaches coming down to stolen or weak passwords over the past three years, especially when you consider the fact that a lot of passwords are repeated: [1][2]
Safety not Guaranteed
The fundamental problem with passwords often has roots in human error. Many organizations advise employees to change their codes repeatedly throughout the year and to keep hackers guessing by only opting for passwords that are longer than eight characters which include numbers and symbols.
This may seem like an obvious way of ensuring safety, but when people can expect to create dozens of password restricted accounts online every year, the chances of them keeping on top of their passwords decreases.
The notion of remembering such an unnatural combination of special characters and numbers within a long code is so difficult to some, that they instead opt
