The Password of Tomorrow — A Simple Scribble?
Why struggle to remember a password that is increasingly more complicated when you can use a simple scribble to unlock your phone? That could be the direction smartphone protection will go after a recent study.
Advantages of a Scribble Password
The study established 3 primary advantages:
- Drawing a line with your finger is faster than typing in a password.
- People find remembering a scribble pattern easier than remembering a password.
- It is more difficult for hackers to crack than a standard password.
Phone manufacturers have experimented in the past with connecting a few dots on the screen in a certain pattern to unlock a phone. However, there are only so many patterns, and it is all too easy to see someone’s pattern when a phone is unlocked. However, the study we are referencing involved free-form drawing rather than connecting a few dots that allow only a certain number of combinations.
People struggle to remember their endless list of passwords and pins that are needed for everything from email to getting money from an ATM. Because of this, the search is on to eliminate the use of passwords every place possible. The scribble is one method being examined.
According to the study, the lines would not only be used to unlock the phone. They could also be a way to log in to various apps, much like Apple uses a fingerprint ID both for unlocking an iPhone and for certain apps that require additional security. This would be an Android alternative to developing a competing form of Touch ID.
Smartphone Protection Is a Must
Nowadays, people keep everything on their smartphones. Many apps keep a user automatically logged into an account such as email and social media. If someone can guess your unlock code, you can be in for a long-term identity battle.
Compounding the problem is that we can’t seem to keep our smartphones in our possession. Whether it is left at a restaurant or in a taxicab, lost phones open the way to loss of personal information. In fact, most stolen phones start out as lost phones that have disappeared by the time a person realizes where it had been left. For a person carrying a company phone, this can create more than just personal loss.