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APPLE, GOOGLE AND Microsoft have announced a joint effort to support a new type of online sign-in which could replace passwords and is designed to make the web more “secure and usable for all”.
The technology giants have agreed to support a new common passwordless sign-in standard which has been created by industry body the Fido Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium.
The new standard, once in place, would allow people to sign in to websites and apps in the same way that they unlock their devices; such as by using a fingerprint or face scan to verify themselves, or by entering a device PIN.
The system will enable people to access and use their new passwordless sign-in credentials – known as a passkey – across different devices without having to sign in to every account again on each device.
The tech giants said the new system would also allow people to use a fingerprint or facial scan authentication on their smartphone as a way of signing in on another device nearby, regardless of which operating system or browser they were running.
This would reduce the need for people to remember a wide range of username and password combinations to log in to different services, they said, which often led to passwords being reused across multiple accounts – something experts said was one of the biggest security risks in the digital world.
Apple, Google and Microsoft said they hoped to start making these capabilities available across their platforms over the coming year.
“‘Simpler, stronger authentication’ is not just Fido Alliance’s tagline — it also has been a guiding principle for our specifications and deployment guidelines,” Fido Alliance executive director Andrew Shikiar said.
“Ubiquity and usability are critical to seeing multi-factor authentication adopted at scale, and we applaud Apple, Google and Microsoft for helping make this objective a reality by committing to support this user friendly innovation in their platforms and products.
“This new capability stands to usher in a new wave of low-friction Fido implementations alongside the ongoing and growing utilisation of security keys — giving service providers a full range of options for deploying modern, phishing-resistant authentication.”
The announcement comes on World Password Day, and as cybersecurity experts called for the public and businesses to “drop passwords altogether” in order to better protect personal data.
Grahame Williams, identity and access management director at defence firm Thales, said passwords were “becoming increasingly insecure” and “easily hacked”, adding that the industry needed to move on to newer technologies in order to boost security.
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What a wonderful, peaceful ideology.
@George Roche: Did the IRA represent you?
@George Roche: Nothing to do with their religion. Is about money. Do u believe that Trump is about making American great?
Liberalism or Islam?
@Nick The IRA were motivated by a militant republican ideology. A criticism of that ideology would not be considered racist or an attempt to blame all Irish people; why do you treat this citicism differently?
@Vincent Are suicide bombers motivated by money?
@Nick Caffrey: the apologists are out early I see. It’s for this reason we are unable to have a proper discussion on the dangers Islam and it’s teachings. Empty vessels making the most noise as usual
@George Roche:
The term Religion of Peace that gets spouted by politicians such as Obama, Teresa May, Trudeau, I think they were referring to this… http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/attacks.aspx?Yr=Last30
@Vincent:
Islamic terrorists have nothing to do with Islam, is that what you are saying? So when they didn’t receive their ransom for the Canadians, beheading them had nothing to do with Islamic terror?
@Nick Caffrey: you must know nothing about history to make the comparison between IRA and Islamic terrorism
This is a money making operation, they are a kidnapping gang. A Muslim thief doesn’t steal because they are Muslim, they steal because they are a thief. This is different.
These kidnappers are just doing what the Prophet Mohammed told them to do.
Apologists for these Islamic terror groups are strong on the journal. Yet they can’t understand that although they are been used as useful idiots, they are nevertheless infidels who will have to convert and accept sharia or die.The PC brigade can’t accept that a spade is a spade, you can’t change it into a shovel.
Murderous Islamic militants again. Quite busy recently; Paris-Brussels-Nice-Berlin-London-Stockholm, seems to be no place safe anymore. Very tight border controls are now essential to reduce the risk.
I hear Somalia is lovely this time of year, do people not research where they are going on holidays?
That’s not good that they’re that far north now too.
have your say