Although there is no question that passwords have served a crucial service to society during the Information Age, most security researchers agree that the time has come to look for more hermetic measures of access control and data protection. Tech giant Microsoft has been working on new security measures to replace the standard username and password credentials that have proven to be vulnerable to hacking and identity theft; recently, the company announced a new version of its Windows 10 operating system that is being considered to be the first step towards a future without passwords.
Meet the Newest Versions of Microsoft’s Windows 10
Windows 10 S is a streamlined version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system; it was introduced with the Surface Laptop as a more secure environment for students. The debut of Windows 10 S locked users into installing apps exclusively from the Windows Store for the purpose of preventing malware from sneaking into their laptops. Additionally, Windows 10 S also restricted various operations that could further compromise the functioning of the operating system and underlying hardware.
Solutions Provided by Windows 10
Microsoft is working with other tech firms to establish Windows Hello as a computing standard; the ideal situation would be for banks, e-commerce sites, and cloud service providers to adopt this security protocol so that new accounts can only be created and accessed with fingerprints. Transitioning existing username/password accounts to biometrics will be a more extensive challenge; however, smartphone manufacturers are starting to incorporate fingerprint scanners in greater numbers.
