THE CHEAT SHEET. The death of passwords?

Yes, but say hello to Hello, a new program from Windows, which can make the entire universe of passwords vanish for good.

That will stop. Your body will become your password.

Microsoft, like many other IT firms, has long been trying to solve the password puzzle. As early as in 2004, at the RSA Security conference, Bill Gates himself predicted the demise of the traditional password as it is unfit to meet the myriad challenging needs of users. With Windows Hello, Microsoft is getting closer to a world without passwords. Announced on March 17, Hello helps users of the Windows 10 operating system sign in to their devices using their fingerprint, face or eye. Windows 10 is likely to reach consumers later this year.

Much more. Already, several personal computers sport biometrics security. Some time ago smartphones running on Google’s Android operating systems introduced the Face Unlock feature. But the devices were struggling to differentiate between a human face and a photo. Hello claims to have fixed that issue.

The new Windows 10 computers will have Intel’s RealSense 3D cameras. This infra-red camera will scan your face and make out if you are real or not.

Maybe, for a consumer who has nothing much to lose except photos or access to websites. But what if it helps you save your bank account? Again, for companies, this level of security is a godsend. Microsoft says such security comes handy in government, defence, financial, healthcare, and other similar platforms, where a great deal of money and data run the risk of hacking. Hacking costs industries and companies billions of dollars every year.

Yes, they entered hundreds of thousands of websites to fetch 1.2 billion user ids and passwords. A few weeks ago, Sony Corp said the controversial Sony Pictures hack cost it $15 million. In 2013, a report by online security firm McAfee pegged global losses from cyber attacks at about $1 trillion.

Hence the importance of solutions such as Windows Hello. The advantage of biometric identification is it is very tough to copy. But it may be misused. Not many will be happy to share body details with a PC company.

Of course, such data can speak volumes about your personality and health. According to the creators of Windows Hello, the data will be stored locally on the PC, not on the cloud, alleviating the risk of third parties having access to them. Microsoft says Hello will work with the new version of Microsoft Passport, which will let users log in to compatible web services and apps without a password. Microsoft is part of the Fast Identity Online (Fido) Alliance, an industry group working towards eliminating passwords as they are known now.

Fido, which has members such as PayPal, Lenovo and Google, works towards making authentication systems interoperable. Which means it wants most computers and platforms to use or share similar security standards so that users can have fast, secure and hassle-free online operations.

But some computer experts have reportedly alleged that a certain technology (crypto) Fido uses is backdoored; which means it can be controlled or misused by the companies. But, in the world of computing, dissidence is the norm. So, watch this space.

A weekly column that helps you ask the right questions

COMMENT NOW