Secure passwords are a nightmare from the user’s point of view. But the end of the cryptic letter and number combinations is getting closer and closer. Windows now allows you to delete the password completely.
We should choose them complex, not too short and ideally a separate one for each service: Creating secure passwords is not that complicated (here you can find out how to do it), but remembering the countless access data is now almost not possible. No wonder that the classic passwords made up of letters and numbers have long been a thorn in the side of tech companies. Now Microsoft is the first of them to go one step further.
If you want, you can now simply delete the password in the settings for your Microsoft account – without replacement. If you log in to the official Microsoft website, you will find the option of setting up a passwordless account in the advanced security options. However, this does not make the Windows computer and the attached Microsoft services any more insecure. Because: The option is only available if you have previously selected an alternative authentication method.
There have long been alternatives
In fact, more and more other options have been added in recent years with which access to devices or Internet services can be implemented securely. At Microsoft, too, you have been able to log in without a password for a long time, if you have set up logging in via the Group’s app called Authenticator or using a biometric variant such as fingerprint or face recognition via Microsoft Hello. So far, the password has been mandatory as a fallback option.
Microsoft even describes the fact that it can now be optionally removed as a gain in security. “Make it more secure by removing your password,” the page says. The increasing number of passwords is in fact likely to have led to an increasing insecurity of this authentication measure for many people. Instead of using a separate, secure password for each service, it is still common not only to use passwords that are too simple, but also to use them for several services. The result: If you hijacked an account, you can take over numerous others at the same time.
With options such as a password manager and / or additional measures such as two-factor authentication, this dilemma can be resolved without much effort, but for many users, even that seems to be too much.
The security measure as a risk factor
No wonder then that Microsoft, but also Apple and Google, have long been working on simply removing the risk factor password from the log-in process. With the iOS15 announced for the coming week, Apple offers the option of logging in with FaceID or TouchID instead of a password when creating a new account for an app. However, so far this is an experimental function, it is disabled by default. For three years now, Google Chrome has supported the option of logging in with other options such as biometric data or a physical key generator instead of a password.
It should take a while before the password disappears completely. So there are some hurdles to iron out that affect users who are not only tied to a single operating system: Neither Microsoft’s method nor Apple’s new system offer the option of using one of the competing offers for authentication. And then there is the simple fact that humans are creatures of habit. After decades of realizing the importance of having strong passwords, it just feels weird when they are suddenly deleted. Even if it is objectively safer.
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