Headlines about mass data breaches have become ominously routine, and yet password convenience still trumps security for most people. That's why, year after year, the world's most popular log-on remains “123456,” a password so obvious it accounted for 17% of the 10 million compromised passwords analysed by Keeper Security, which sells a log-in management service.
The answer, of course, is to get rid of passwords altogether. Biometric technology-especially fingerprint scanners-have been steadily replacing the need to type in a password, which can easily be guessed by hackers wielding smart algorithms. Now, with the world increasingly embracing voice-activated devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, companies are starting to create technology that recognizes a person's speech patterns. Facial recognition is starting to catch on as well.