Passwords persist, but users call for advanced authentication

Dive Brief:

A study released Tuesday found 52% of consumers prefer biometrics and other authentication methods over traditional usernames and passwords.
The study, Businesses Should Begin Preparing for the Death of the Password from Gigya, found 29% of respondents prefer using two-factor authentication and 20% prefer biometric authentication.
Of the respondents that expressed an opinion, 80% said they believe biometric authentication is more secure than traditional usernames and passwords.

Dive Insight:

The survey of 4,000 people in the U.S. and the U.K. found alternative authentication methods—such as fingerprint scanning, voice recognition, facial recognition or iris scanning—were preferred over traditional usernames and passwords.

Ironically, consumers appear to be their own worst enemies. While several other studies have shown consumers have poor password habits, the Gigya study also found that only 16% of respondents follow password best practices by creating a unique password for each online account, 6% use the same password for all accounts and 63% use seven or fewer passwords across all their online accounts.

Interest in better password protection could be driven by bad experiences—26% of respondents said they have had at least one account compromised in the last year.

The study also found that complex password procedures can be bad for business. The study found 68% of respondents abandon the creation of an online account due to complex password requirements, while 55% leave login pages because of forgotten passwords or incorrect security question answers.

Given the interest—and need for—more secure authentication methods, experts say businesses need to prepare for the day when the traditional password system is a thing of the past and move to adopt more secure password alternatives.

"Within the next 10 years, traditional passwords will be dead as an authentication form," said Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya. "Businesses that are already using advanced authentication methods demonstrate increased customer registration and engagement while enjoying greater login convenience and security."

Google is already working on technology that would allow Android developers to replace passwords with biometrics. Should testing prove successful, developers will have access to the tech by the end of the year.