Kill passwords. All of them.
I hate remembering them all.
I am taking on what maybe the “plague’’ of the 21st century mango-man. Remembering passwords. Building it with the number, (special) special characters, case-sensitivity, and unique to the last five used in this very service is like a baigan bharta without the recipe, I know I will get there, but I am not sure if I can get there again. And I need a new metaphorical baigan bharta for every service I use, or what’s the point of eating it at all.
The boom of Silicon Valley has given us the services such Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Reddit, gMail, Instagram amongst several others. We are expected to use these services simultaneously with unique passwords. OAuth & cookies solved this issue to a certain extent, but it was just a drop in the ocean. And to top it all, if you are a business owner, then, you have another set of social media profiles, Saas services, public accounts, amongst several others, which need to be changes every time there is any notable event in the virtual timeline of a company. i believe this surmises the word “misery”.
A Password should be treated like a toothbrush, change it every 6 months and don’t give it to anyone.
There isn’t a proper solution to this issue, yet. While the ideal solution would be an universal identity manager that is compatible with all digital products, but for now, this can be addressed with multiple approaches. The ultimate aim to create a painkiller to eliminate the agony of remembering passwords.
Image based identity recognition
Instead of remembering passwords, in this case, user will remember 3 or more touch points (in sequence) for an image. Each time for login, user needs to tap those area within the image in the same sequence. Recollecting areas on images are far easier than remembering long passwords.
This type of authentication became fairly popular when we(I was one of ’em) launched Windows 8. Unlike 3x3 dots grid authentication on android phones, this is secure due to enormous permutations. 205320 [P(60,3)] with regular thumb tip size and most popular phone screen size.
Instant OTP
A simple interface and a great experience. The user will need to enter a mobile number, an OTP will be generated and would be sent to the mobile number. User will input this OTP and will be logged in.
MobiKwik operates similarly to this. In fact, I moved from other popular digital wallets to this one, not for the “cash-back” but for the convenience of not remembering a static password. All I need to do is to enter my mobile number (something I can’t get out of remembering, for now) and almost immediately, I get a 4 digit OTP.
Access Notifications
Another simple interface within the same window. this is essentially a push notification with an actionable button. Every time a service is being accessed, a notification appears on the registered mobile number and tapping on the notification would log the user in. Microsoft has been using this for skydrive on Android and Google tested it, few months ago with its Trust API system.
Voice Commands
“Jarvis, let me in.” — Tony Stark
Systems with voice commands are already in place, but are being used in varying contexts. Apple’s Siri, Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana are a few popular phone assistants that work on voice commands. However, authentication requires the extra effort in recognizing unique voice patterns. If Google’s search patterns are anything to go by (20% of all search on Android are voice commands), hands-free is here to stay.
Hodorr!
“Hodorr!, how do I get in?”
Given the current ecosystem, eliminating passwords is at-least 2–3 years in the future and hence, Hodorr!. It holds the door for anyone but you. Un;like his more popular namesake, Hodorr does the job of not just guarding the door but changing, remembering and securing passwords, while your memory is spared for better use. Hodorr! is an interactive platform that you store your passwords in, and returns it to you every time you ask for it.
It’s an invite only service that 170 entrepreneurs have already signed up for and are currently dogfooding it.
If you think/know-of approach other than mentioned, do let me know in comments down below, and if you liked this, click the💚 below so other people will see this here on Medium. Hodorr!
Thanks Ayan Jeloka for edit assistance.
