Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
Passwords Are Dead at Google
September 12, 2013
Speaking on a TechCrunch Disrupt panel called "Spies Like Us," Heather Adkins, Google's manager of information security, told moderator Greg Ferenstein that in the future, the "game is over for" any startup that relies on passwords as its chief method to secure users and their data. "Passwords are dead," she said, announcing that Google is done with passwords for the future.
She talked about Google's use of two-step authentication and about how it is working to innovate on non-standard password security. Google is experimenting with hardware-based tokens as well as a Motorola-created system that authenticates users by having them touch a device to something embedded, or held, in their own clothing. "A hacker can't steal that from you," she said.
Further information about Google's recently announced two-factor authentication may be found in Jack Newton's article on the Canadian online magazine SLAW.