When a prankster managed to break into both Burger King and Jeep’s Twitter accounts in the same week and post some outrageous tweets, the results were harmless. But when Wired magazine Senior Writer Mat Honan had his entire digital life deleted after a hacker exploited flaws in Apple and Amazon’s security, it wasn’t so funny. Both scenarios had one thing to blame: their password.
Not only are they hard to remember, but passwords are notoriously insecure. That’s why Google is on a mission to kill them. The company is experimenting with a microchip that can be embedded with your information and will be able to unlock your accounts when it’s plugged into a USB port. Soon, though, Google wants to take it a step further by putting it in the form of a ring.
In a report in the IEEE Security & Privacy magazine, Google officials said, “We’d like your smartphone or smartcard-embedded finger ring to authorize a new computer via a tap on the computer.” To summarize: Google wants to create a tiny microchip that will be with you at all times and necessary to do any sort of electronic transaction. Don’t worry; Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” So, we’re safe.
