FEATURE : PASSWORDLESS FUTURE
Cybersecurity professionals discuss how far we can rely on the use of passwords to secure our most valuable information , and how organisations should be securely operating until we can develop a more reliable method to replace passwords .
The concept of a password has existed for millennia and while the idea of them has remained the same , our use has not . A password is no longer required to just be a word , but taking all into account , the password has remained very similar over the ages . That is now changing .
Since passwords were invented , people have been trying to bypass , steal and disrupt their use . After researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced the first computer-borne passwords in the 1960s , it was only a year later when the first computer hacker stole them .
Over the years , our reliance on computers has increased , so the value of a password can unlock huge rewards for cybercriminals – both cash and other valuable assets . In fact , it was only six months ago when a researcher succeeded in guessing the Twitter password of then US President , Donald Trump .
In many ways , criminal hacking has also become more accessible , meaning the threats we experience today are more advanced than ever before . Our use of the password has changed in response . We now use autofill functions , password managers and Multi-Factor Authentication ( MFA ).
We spoke to four senior security experts to explore the evolution of passwords in closer detail .
Bypassing weak passwords with MFA
The acceleration of Digital Transformation during the pandemic is a cause for potential concern , according to CyberArk ’ s EMEA Technical Director , David Higgins . He said : “ This transformation may have boosted
Experts discuss whether passwords are still fit for purpose
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