The world these days has completely transformed and on the path of the digital journey. Even the platforms businesses use to interact with their customers also have changed with the advent and advancements of cutting-edge technologies. With this technological progress, the way of interacting with others online is also increased, making the interactivity easier and convenient. However, in this all processes passwords matter a lot as it provides security to people’s data.

Passwords have been with us since the arrival of the internet to the real world. They are essential for people’s online security and differentiate one account from another. However, in this digitally transformed world, passwords are no longer a thing of authentication due to the continuously increasing landscape of cyberattacks.

In business scenario, password-enabled consumer authentication was initially designed for employees, not customers or clients, as per the World Economic Forum. User experience was not a concern.

However, today, in the age of fingerprint and facial recognition, people expect a seamless customer experience, and passwords are becoming a key factor in poor customer retention rates.

Why Passwords are Becoming Thing of Past?

Considering reports, most of the data breaches occur from weak or stolen passwords. And as digital platforms accumulate gigabytes of data, including personal information and the credentials people use to get access to their digital services, the cost of attacks for hackers has decreased significantly. Becasue people with bad intent these days can even purchase login credentials to someone’s bank on the dark web by just paying a little amount.

One of the major issues with password management is average people today have dozens of personal and business usernames or password combinations to keep track of and recycles those same passwords across multiple accounts, creating interminable opportunities for exploitation and compromise.

Thus, to ease these challenges generated by passwords, industry experts found the options of passwordless authentication. It is a security method in modern authentication for identity and access management (IAM) solutions, verifying the identity of a user without requiring a password.

The move to Passwordless

Passwordless authentication relies on the FIDO2 standard, which encompasses the WebAuthn and the CTAP standards. Using this standard, passwordless authentication frees IT from the burden of securing passwords.

This kind of authentication imitates how people in the real world recognize one another by using techniques like biometrics, based on inherent physical attributes. Most organizations now seek to introduce passwordless authentication as they realize it frees them from managing and maintaining lots of passwords.

Here are some benefits passwordless authentication offers to users.

User Experience

Moving to this authentication means users no more need to memorized secrets and type complex passwords, streamlining the authentication process and improving user experience. It also allows users to choose what tool he or she uses to create the keys and authenticate, it might be a mobile app, a biometric or a physical device.

Enhanced Security

Passwordless authentication reduces the risk of attack vectors, from credential stuffing to phishing attacks. And when businesses move to new authentication solutions, it lessens their exposure to data breaches. Typically, user-controlled passwords are more vulnerable to attacks like phishing, credential stuffing, corporate account takeover and more. Thus, this solution doesn’t require personal information to be stored or transmitted over the internet, ultimately reducing those vulnerabilities.

Improved Interoperability

Interoperability enables new users to access certain services and for existing users, it gives them access to transact more broadly. It also enables digital services to offer their users new ways to transact. Applying a standards-based approach means the implementation work is largely completed, and service providers can get started faster on their path to passwordless authentication. It majorly cuts down development time and reveals access to new markets that are adopting certified solutions.