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ALTERNATIVES TO PASSWORDS

Passwords today have become so ubiquitous that life without them seems unthinkable.

Be it as trivial as accessing your e-mail or as confidential as finding your Bank balance, Passwords is the key. As we all know, a Password is an access key.

It may be a word, a combination of numbers and alphabets/characters, which allows access to the person having the Password to Computers, e-mail accounts, documents, and databases. Without a Password access will be denied to those resources. Without a Password today, life comes to a standstill.

As Passwords dominate our life so overwhelmingly, the Security of the Password is the utmost priority of the User. In olden days, Kings had to take a huge army to fight the enemy and occupy that territory. Today, you do not need all that. It is as simple as knowing your opponent’s Password and he is finished.

The security of a Password depends on so many factors. Two important ones are discussed below:

  • Strength of the Password: The logic is stronger Passwords are difficult to break. Strong Passwords are those that are difficult to break and off course on the other hand weak Passwords are ones which are easily broken.

  • The Computer System which stores the Password: Some Systems store the Passwords in plain text form. This is highly risky. Therefore Systems which store Passwords in encrypted form are less prone to attack.

However the Human brain is so ingenious that Hackers around the world are succeeding in breaking even the most secure Systems, thanks to vulnerable Passwords.

Therefore, the vulnerability of Passwords has always been a matter of serious concern and threat to the Software community ever since the time the Computers were born. Consequently, the search for alternatives to Passwords is slowly gaining momentum. Detailed below are some of the alternatives to usual Passwords and technologies that are being tried the world over.

USE AND THROW

Modern technologies have made life so easy and less expensive. Many of the products available in the local mall are designed to be used for a single time popularly known as ‘use and throw’ products. Imagine applying this simple concept to Passwords.

That is what ‘single-use’ Passwords are all about. You use the Password for say, a single transaction and thereafter the Password cannot be used. That is, the Password is valid only once. You have to go for a new Password, the next time. The idea behind this strategy is obviously to beat the Hacker. By the time he finds out the Password, you will be using a different Password. That way, you are one up.

SECURITY TOKENS

A Security Token is a physical device given to an user for easy identification. Most Security Tokens, also known as Software Tokens, are so designed that they can fit into pocket or your purse. These Tokens generally store some identification of the user such as the Digital Signature of the user or a PIN or the user’s Fingerprint. Some even generate a one time Password.

PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY

Public Key Cryptography is a technology that uses encryption( to convert ordinary text etc into coded form) and decryption( to decode – to convert back the coded text into ordinary readable text) to prevent unauthorized access.

Typically it generates two keys( something like a PIN) for use. One is called the Public Key and the other is called the Private Key. The Public Key is accessible to all and any message sent by a person is encrypted using the Public Key. The Private Key is kept secret. The user can read the message after decryption using the Private Key.

BIOMETRY

Biometry is the science of using the physical characteristics of a person for identification. Commonly used characteristics in Biometry are Fingerprints and Iris( a part of the human eye) since they have been proved to be unique to a person.

For example, assume a company, which uses Biometry to allow entry to its employees. Initially, the Fingerprints of all the employees of the company are scanned and stored in a huge database.

When an employee tries to enter the office subsequently, the System tries to match the Fingerprints of the person accessing with the database of Fingerprints already available. Entry is allowed only if a match is found.

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The above are just a few alternatives to Passwords that are being tried. By the way things are as of now we have a long way to go till the efficacy and economy of these alternative Systems are tested through comparative studies. Till then, we cannot say goodbye to Passwords. Therefore take your time and create strong Passwords to protect your personal data on the Internet.

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