With all of us registering at more and more websites and the constant attempts by webmasters to force us into using complex and random passwords, is it any wonder that most people still use the easiest passwords that they can get away with and also reuse passwords across most if not all websites they use.
There is also the continued increase in successful hacking attacks against websites large and small and the seemingly monthly announcements from major websites and social networks of major security breaches where usernames and passwords have been accessed and in many cases posted publicly where any future hacker can pick them up and use them for widespread hacking attempts.
There have been various solutions put forward over the last few years many of which have fallen by the wayside or havent received the take up by websites that is required in order to get to a critical mass. Arguably the two most widely adopted systems are those using your Facebook or Twitter accounts but these are not without issues. Firstly these still rely on password security both by the two big social media giants but also from users themselves and think how many websites can be accessed if either of these passwords are known by hackers !
One system that looks to get around all these password issues is called Launchkey which was launched at the Startup Weekend Las Vegas competition in July 2012, followed seven months later by a free app available from the Apple App Store and then by an Android version shortly afterwards. Now with the Launchkey Public Beta it moves to the next stage.
There are plugins scheduled for WordPress and Drupal within the next week but the real test will be the uptake both by users of these widely used systems but also other major websites.
There Are 2 Comments
Peter Johnson on 07 Jul, 2013
What a great idea and let’s hope that this becomes widely adopted. I am one of those people that has to use the same passwords on multiple sites or I just wouldn’t be able to remember all the different logins I have.
Dan Peters on 08 Jul, 2013
I would also like to see this type of system replace login passwords – just too many to remember ! We are Cubecart users and as you specialise in cubecart, do you know if a plugin will be available from Launchkey or will you be writing one yourselves ?