Published by Infosecurity on December 18, 2017 by Shimrit Tzur-Davi
Passwords – devising them, remembering them, typing them in – can be a hassle for users, but polls on whether users would be willing to use alternative authentication methods are all over the place. Some show that users would rather use “anything” than passwords to authenticate their identities, while others claim that most users are fine with passwords.
But a poll of hackers asking them whether they would be in favor of a mass change of current authentication methods is rarely considered, because it would likely show that hackers would be opposed to users – their target victims – trading in their passwords for, say, Apple’s new Face ID.
For hackers, like for everyone else, it’s about the return on investment – how much they can get for the amount of time/money/effort expended. The traditional username/password authentication system works – for hackers. For them, passwords are like manna from heaven – their direct line into your online bank accounts and easy to guess.
