Password Less Websites: Microsoft and Google Demonstrated

by Lena Smith Technical Engineer

Google and Microsoft, in the recent RSA conference, talked about how they wished that websites would adopt password–less sign in systems by taking the help of android phones and Windows computers.

It might be the time to bid farewell to passwords after all. Some of the largest websites in the world are planning to replace passwords with fingerprint scans and facial recognition which will be powered by Google and Microsoft.

Recently in the RSA security conference held in San Francisco, Google and Microsoft displayed their attempts to assist the internet platforms to go password-free through Android phones and Windows computers.

Do you wish to buy something online? Google demonstrated how the presence of a fingerprint sensor on the Android Smartphone can remodel the login process of Paypal. Entering in a password for the purchase approval will not be needed. With a simple fingerprint scan, you will be signed into your PayPal account.

In the conference, there was talk about how to make the login process more secure and easy on personal computers. With this in mind, Microsoft demonstrated how the Windows Hello has the capability to use the web camera of the computer to read the facial features in order to give access to PayPal account.

Fingerprint scanning and facial recognition features aren’t new and most new smartphones and laptops already have them. However, having big websites to use these security measures is definitely new. Faster Identity Online, commonly abbreviated as FIDO, has been persuading the technology industry to switch from passwords to more safe, simple, and secure ways of login access. Both Google and Microsoft are members of the FIDO alliance.

Google and Microsoft Office have been rooting for the adoption of FIDO 2.0 by websites. They are working on constructing authentication technologies into their own web browsers. Microsoft added that the subsequent Windows 10 release will support this authentication standard. Nok Nok Labs, a member of the FIDO alliance, is offering assistance to websites so that they can switch their online platforms to password-less systems.

While the fingerprint scanning and facial recognition login technologies which were demonstrated in the RSA conference are still in their pre-manufacture phase, Brett McDowell feels that 2019 might be the big year for the adoption of FIDO 2.0 by actual websites.