Passwordless login is now available through Microsoft’s apps. As of now, Microsoft users are able to delete all passwords associated with their accounts and instead log in using an authenticator app or other method.
In March, the company began offering password-free accounts for its business customers. Now, this system is available to all Windows and Microsoft users. The system said that “nearly 100% of our employees” have already adopted the new, more secure system.
Microsoft’s passwordless login feature requires users to use their fingerprint, or other secure unlock method, on their mobile phone when logging in again. According to Microsoft, this is a much safer alternative than a password, which is hackable. “Only you can provide fingerprint authentication or provide the right response on your mobile at the right time,” it said.
Users of Windows will still be able to use features such as Pin codes to log in quickly.
There are only a few exceptions, like the Office 2010 suite and Xbox 360 consoles, and earlier versions of Windows would require passwords.
When access to the authentication app is lost – for instance, if your phone is stolen or lost or if you forget to upgrade – backup options are available, including:
Prof. Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey, who works on researching passwordless authentication, has called Microsoft’s move “quite a bold one”.
“This isn’t just logging into PCs, it’s logging into online services as well” – including important ones such as cloud storage, he said. Vasu Jakkal, the security vice president, said that creating, remembering, and managing passwords are difficult across all the accounts in our lives.
“We are expected to create complex and unique passwords, remember them, and change them frequently – but nobody likes doing that.” Rather than creating secure passwords, people tended to create passwords that technically allowed for use of The website’s password sensitivity consists of symbols, numbers or lowercase letters – but in order to remember them, it uses the same formula or password on multiple websites.
Therefore, hackers were able to guess them or reveal them in a data breach and reuse them.
The blog post read, “Hackers don’t break-in, they log in.”.
This story is attributed to Omar Abdulla, Content Developer at TECHx
Omar Abdulla is a university student with a passion for business, artificial intelligence, and technology. He is also knowledgeable about digital marketing, content creation, financial management, and coding. Omar is a team player, an active thinker, and an open-minded guy who approaches work with a problem-solving attitude. He possesses technical skills in programming and design.
