We can go around the web without any passwords very soon

By admin On Apr 11, 2018

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Nothing as boring as web standards, I know. But sometimes one arrives that can structurally change things and this web authentication standard launched by FIDO Alliance and the W3C will make it possible to log in almost soon every website without having to use a password. It works with almost everything and also supports two-factor authentication.

It works like this: new standard allows websites to get your identification in all kinds of ways: with fingerprint sensors, cameras, hardware tokens such as a USB stick and much more. Because the standard encrypts the identification back and forth it does not matter how much you identify yourself: it cannot be intercepted and even if that happens there is no ‘password’ that can be used by other people. So a secure key is created per site that your device never leaves and that is safe.

Broad support

The beauty of this FIDO standard is that it is both safe and that it is the completely open source. There are no patents, everyone can use it and as good as everyone is on board to use the standard. Big names like Google, Microsoft, Samsung, PayPal are all participating and most browsers also participate: Edge, Firefox (where it already works), Chrome and soon Opera are part of the game. Big absent is Apple, but they are never so keen on standards that they have not thought up or bought themselves, so that will take a little longer.

And for the record: these kinds of processes take time. It will certainly take another year or two before you regularly use a FIDO (that is indeed for Fast IDentity Online) login, but once that becomes the new standard, what it now looks like, we will no longer know better. Would the end of the passwords be forthcoming? It was time, because we do not bake anything these passwords.