Beyond the Password Era: Changing Consumer Habits Signal the End Is Near

The death of the password has been rumored for years, but to this day it remains the primary way we identify ourselves online, with the average user now managing well over 100 accounts that require a password. Yet changing tides in the cybersecurity landscape, combined with evolving technology and consumer preferences, indicate that the end of the password era may finally be at hand.

Consumers Embrace Alternatives to Password Protection

In the wake of countless data breaches, consumers are becoming increasingly security-aware and open to changes in the way they identify themselves online. In a recent IBM Security study, respondents ranked security as their top priority over convenience when logging in to the majority of applications.

As options such as biometrics, multifactor authentication (MFA) and password managers become more advanced, consumers are already starting to move beyond password-only approaches and embrace a new future of identity. The IBM study found that fingerprint scans are seen as the most secure method of authentication. In addition, 67 percent of consumers are using biometric authentication today, while 87 percent said they’d be open to this technology in the future.

Millennials, currently the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, are at the forefront of driving these changes. With a stronger preference for convenience, younger generations are the most likely to embrace biometrics. They are also twice as likely as older generations (ages 55+) to use a password manager to lock down their accounts.

‘Today’ Takes a Closer Look at the Future of Identity

NBC’s Tom Costello recently joined IBM X-Force experts at the Cyber Range in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to discuss why password-only approaches are becoming obsolete and what the future may hold in terms of how we prove our identities online.

Check out the full “Today” segment, along with tips to protect yourself online:

To learn more about consumer trends around identity and access, check out IBM’s “Future of Identity Study.” You can also get highlights and additional analysis from this podcast and blog series.

Read the complete “IBM Future of Identity Study”

Cassy Lalan

External Relations

Taking the complexity out of identity solutions for hybrid environments

4 min read - For the past two decades, businesses have been making significant investments to consolidate their identity and access management (IAM) platforms and directories to manage user identities in one place. However, the hybrid nature of the cloud has led many to realize that this ultimate goal is a fantasy. Instead, businesses must learn how to consistently and effectively manage user identities across multiple IAM platforms and directories. As cloud migration and digital transformation accelerate at a dizzying pace, enterprises are left…

“Authorized” to break in: Adversaries use valid credentials to compromise cloud environments

4 min read - Overprivileged plaintext credentials left on display in 33% of X-Force adversary simulations Adversaries are constantly seeking to improve their productivity margins, but new data from IBM X-Force suggests they aren’t exclusively leaning on sophistication to do so. Simple yet reliable tactics that offer ease of use and often direct access to privileged environments are still heavily relied upon. Today X-Force released the 2023 Cloud Threat Landscape Report, detailing common trends and top threats observed against cloud environments over the past…

Artificial intelligence threats in identity management

4 min read - The 2023 Identity Security Threat Landscape Report from CyberArk identified some valuable insights. 2,300 security professionals surveyed responded with some sobering figures: 68% are concerned about insider threats from employee layoffs and churn 99% expect some type of identity compromise driven by financial cutbacks, geopolitical factors, cloud applications and hybrid work environments 74% are concerned about confidential data loss through employees, ex-employees and third-party vendors. Additionally, many feel digital identity proliferation is on the rise and the attack surface is…

X-Force certified containment: Responding to AD CS attacks

6 min read - This post was made possible through the contributions of Joseph Spero and Thanassis Diogos. In June 2023, IBM Security X-Force responded to an incident where a client had received alerts from their security tooling regarding potential malicious activity originating from a system within their network targeting a domain controller. X-Force analysis revealed that an attacker gained access to the client network through a VPN connection using a third-party IT management account. The IT management account had multi-factor authentication (MFA) disabled…

Security Intelligence

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

Topics

Consumers Embrace Alternatives to Password Protection

‘Today’ Takes a Closer Look at the Future of Identity

More from Identity & Access

Taking the complexity out of identity solutions for hybrid environments

“Authorized” to break in: Adversaries use valid credentials to compromise cloud environments

Artificial intelligence threats in identity management

X-Force certified containment: Responding to AD CS attacks

Topic updates