‘Physical Keys’ are IN, ‘Passwords’ are OUT, Thanks to Google
LONDON:Passwords are the keys to many of our online activities. But search giant, Google thinks otherwise. It is making efforts to replace the passwords completely with USB keys, mobile phones and jewelry that can act as a physical medium to give access to the online accounts.
It is to be announced next month that how Google will make this happen and make it easier than passwords. It already tested Yubikey, a device which acts as a USB keyboard. When placed in a Google laptop, Yubikey can automatically log into the user account without needing any passwords. This can be used in any device having a USB port and can ease the logging in process of the users. It can log to various websites, even the user’s favorite ones, without asking for passwords from the user.
Google vice president of the security Eric Grosse and engineer Mayank Upadhyay will give a detailed explanation of a physical key with a ‘smart chip’ embedded in the forthcoming issue of IEEE security and privacy magazine. According to the Wired, the Daily Mail quoted them as “Along with many in this industry, we feel passwords and simple bearer tokens like cookies are not enough to keep users safe”.
Google is also testing Wireless chips that are embedded in some mobile phones, and also can be embedded in jewelry. It is believed the team is working on methods in which these technologies can be used even when there is no cellular connection on the phone. It is also trying to address the problem of individuals losing the ‘physical key’ and then how to replace them with a user-friendly system.
Key chains will be used to support the USB keys, and will be similar to ID readers used in banks. But Google thinks that will need extensive reliability of the websites and particularly, the internet. The USB keys will be durable, not be effected from being dropped and will be safe in underwater, which makes this scheme more favorable by the internet users. Mainly, it will relieve the users worrying and remembering passwords and thus solve problems for many people.
