Biometrics
Biometrics allows a system to recognize users by
biological markers such as their face, voice, or fingerprint. Many people
already have one or several of these on their laptops and smartphones, but as
the technology improves and becomes more ubiquitous, it may finally end the
password paradigm.
Because most people have inefficient passwords, use
the same one for every account, and never change them, hackers typically need
only one hit to enjoy carte blanche over someone’s personal and professional
data. Even those who do passwords correctly can find managing the system a
nightmare.
For these reasons, biometrics promises much-needed
security of sensitive data. A fingerprint is much more difficult to hack with
raw computational power than a password, and that difficulty is increased by
magnitudes when multiple markers are used in tandem.