passwords

When many personal accounts are compromised it is often because someone simply guessed an obvious password. In a new list of the most commonly used passwords of 2018, it's astoundingly revealed that a huge number of people still use "password" as their password.

A team from the University of Washington has developed a system that lets passcodes be stored in your clothes without electronics, courtesy of a patch of magnetic fabric that can be read by sensors at a door or vending machine.

The launch of the iPhone X and its new facial unlocking technology has thrust biometric security back into the popular discourse. A team at the University of Buffalo has now developed a new biometric tool that analyzes the dimensions of your heart​ to unlock your phone or log in to your computer.

With all the high-profile security breaches in recent years, researchers have been looking to add new biometric layers to our regular passwords. Computer scientists at HKBU have now developed a novel form of lip-motion detection to boost the security of password authentication systems.

British firm Intelligent Environments has created Emoji Passcode, which helps you log into your bank using emoji. Swapping numbers for emoji reportedly makes your PIN code easier to remember but harder to crack. It's also a lot more fun.

It looks like the days of the password are numbered. Microsoft has announced Windows Hello, a new biometric authentication system launching with Windows 10. It means you'll be able to unlock your computer with a fingerprint or a face, as you can on today's flagship smartphones.

It's had a good run, but the password's time is up. Remembering a unique unlock code for dozens of sites is no longer very practical or safe, and many different companies are exploring what comes next. One of those companies is Clef, which confirms you identify with an animated wave on your phone.

There's an increasing recognition that passwords alone are not going be an adequate form of online security in the future. Two-factor authentication can vastly improve security, by simply introducing a second means of verification alongside a password. Google's new USB Security Key does just that.

Researchers are working on a possible alternative to typed passcodes. They've discovered that passwords consisting of hand gestures used to draw free-form lines on a smartphone or tablet screen are much more difficult for "shoulder surfers" to copy after seeing.

You might be familiar with password storage services like 1Password or LastPass. They beef up security by letting you create complex passwords that you'll never have to remember. Starting today, Galaxy S5 owners who use LastPass can now use their fingerprints to login to their password vaults.

As a result of the Heartbleed bug that has made data on two-thirds of the world's servers potentially accessible to hackers, users have been told to change their passwords. It goes to show that not only is the security of passwords fragile, but they are impractical too. So what are the alternatives?

myIDkey, which is a fingerprint-encrypted, voice-searchable thumb drive, makes password management portable.