Author: Shuman Ghosemajumder

Passwords are inconvenient and create numerous security vulnerabilities, so why can’t we just replace them? The short answer is that there’s no better method. Yet. Companies are beholden to their users, and while most users claim to value security over convenience, their actions speak otherwise. As a case in point, research conducted by Google suggested that even when users have experienced their accounts being taken over, fewer than 10% will adopt multifactor authentication (MFA) because of the associated complexity and friction.1 All authentication is a balance of usability, security, and deployability. To replace passwords, a new solution must equal passwords on all three fronts and exceed them on at least one. Trading off…