The death of passwords has been predicted for many years, but during 2018 we will finally see the perfect storm that will make login with username and a static password obsolete. Magnus Malmström, vice president for the Product and Delivery unit at identity and security company Nexus Group, summarizes why.
Already in 2004 Microsofts´ founder Bill Gates declared that passwords will go away. He was speaking at the RSA Security conference, when he said: “There is no doubt that over time, people are going to rely less and less on passwords. People use the same password on different systems, they write them down and they just don’t meet the challenge for anything you really want to secure.”
“The need to say goodbye to passwords has become urgent, while at the same time more secure login methods have become both easier to implement and to use. On average, 40% of all calls to helpdesk are about passwords and almost always require manual handling which has led to increased cost. And the cost of better login methods has gone down, which means that your organization will actually save money by saying goodbye to passwords,” says Malmström.
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As technology has advanced, better and more secure login methods than username and a static password are now feasible:
- Two-factor authentication (2FA) methods have become user friendly.
- 2FA methods are now easy to implement, even for the mobile workforce.
The necessity to move away from logins with username and a static password has become overwhelming:
- Login with username and a static password is not secure.
- New regulations, most notably the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), demand more secure authentication methods than username and a static password.
- Organizations cannot digitize their operations fully using username and a static password as their authentication method.
- The end users demand more convenient authentication methods than username and a static password.
- Organizations cannot afford to risk the immense damage that leaked passwords could entail.
- With the work force becoming mobile and applications moving to the cloud, one can no longer rely on physical access protection for securing your digital information.
It is not a cost to say goodbye to passwords – it actually saves money:
- The costs for administration of passwords and leaked passwords have increased.
- The cost of 2FA methods has gone down.
