Password Overload? Fear Not, Eventually

The days of the password might be numbered.

We're not talking about open-sourcing your laptop or your smartphone here. No, we're talking about the next generation of device-protection methods.

Many IT experts are working on these sorts of things these days (and it might have something to do with a rise in forgotten-password service calls). Among the not-so-sci-fi methods being bandied about in certain circles are the already gaining traction voice recognition, the physical-meets-computerized digital signature, and the super complicated continual verification based on typing.

You'll notice that none of those was the iris scan or the fingerprint match, both of which lend themselves to dastardly deeds in spy movies. That just suggests all kinds of pain that we don't need to think about when we're using our eyes to read words and hands to surf the Net. But I digress.

Voice recognition we are already familiar with: Your device would recognize your voice and unlock itself. This wouldn't be merely a couple of syllables, though, if we're talking high security. No, you'd probably have to talk a fair bit, saying random things so the computer could judge your patterns of speech and pronunciation (maybe even your grammar!). But that would be all right: Your device would definitely know it was you.

The digital signature is an interesting variation on a theme. We're not talking about a scan of a written signature stored and then brought back out to sign off on important documents in work or other financial circles. No, this would be your logging in by signing your name on a touchscreen and the device matching what it has on file. (So you would have to put one on there originally.) In this case, it's probably better to use your signed name rather than a random word or phrase because (or so the theory goes) your signature would be similar most times out. (And the system wouldn't care how illegible it was, which is definitely a bonus for some people.)

The most involved method would be a secondary one, most likely — a system that tracks what and how you type and feeds back into a protection system that could conceivably log you out after a certain period of time if you're not typing like yourself. Again, we're not necessarily talking about grammar or punctuation skills here, although that could be an early indicator; no, the system would look at things that are more sophisticated, such as whether you hunt-and-peck or touch-type and how fast you type and, closely related perhaps to that, how often you hit the Delete key.

It's all exciting times ahead for device protection. You'll still have to remember all of those passwords for awhile yet, but you'll probably be able to forget them along about the time you're forgetting where you put your car keys anyway.