Have you ever heard of a man named Fernando Corbató? If you have an email account, do online banking, or spend hours scrolling through Facebook posts you should thank him. He’s the inventor of the computer password. This was done in the early sixties and we are still using it today. But as computing power continues to improve in speed and ability are passwords too vulnerable?
Fernando Corbató recently conducted an interview with the Wall Street Journal where he talks about the headache that passwords can be. He mentions a couple solutions to dealing with large numbers of passwords but doesn’t mention using a password algorithm to easily remember an infinite number of passwords. You can read his interview here.
So passwords are a pain, so what of the alternatives? Retina scanners, fingerprint readers, voice recognition. Would these be any safer? It is a safe bet that hackers will find ways through any security tool. Time will tell which security device we – as a whole – will migrate toward. What do you think? Which security method would you prefer if given the choice?
