Evolving technology has its pros and cons. New smartphones, iPads, laptops, social media accounts and even “Cloud” – These products and services are readily available and accessible to us. We rely on our tech gadgets and trust the manufacturers of these products to create a secure system for us to store our personal information on it.
We have evolved from a simple 4-digit lock code on a smartphone to highly complex facial recognition system. The moment we open that box and start setting up the new device, most of us choose to focus on the first line of defense – mostly a complex password.
Identity theft and data breach is slowly becoming a part of the existence of technology and information.
The tech giants have prepared algorithms to catch the bad guys or rather prepared security measures to prevent these incidents from happening in the first place. But some are falling short.
Recently, Facebook admitted that the passwords of millions of Instagram users is stored in their system in a readable format, hence putting the user information at risk.
BBC News reported – “A particular database for limited influencers was inadvertently exposed for approximately 72 hours.This database did not include any sensitive personal data and only contained information available from the public domain, or self-reported by influencers.”
Usually passwords are secured in an encrypted format, making it rather impossible for hackers to break the code. However, Facebook was potentially putting user information at risk.
Biometrics has proven to be one of the best security measures of all times. Biometric security mainly consists of facial recognition, iris or fingerprint scanner.
Most tech companies still make their products with an optional layer of alpha-numerical password, Microsoft decided to take it one step further.
The company announced last year to eliminate passwords completely, leaving users with the only options of biometrics and security-key.
Time and money is valuable, therefore it’s not worth spending on forgotten passwords.
