Is Google set to kill off the password?

[karl]

Passwords have become an increasing problem for many - but Google could be set to replace them entirely.
The search giant is experimenting with USB keys, mobile phones and even jewelry that can act as a physical 'key' to give users access to their account.
The firm's security bosses are set to publish their findings next month - and say they could soon be commonplace.


Full story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2264714/Is-Google-set-kill-password-Search-giant-experiments-USB-keys-ring-tap-replace-them.html#ixzz2IMIek9ji

[FreeFall]

Not sure how I feel about this yet. It's interesting but...risky.

[Jess]

I don't get how stuff like jewelry is going to work...I rather have the passwords

[Abyssal Echo]

I find it interesting but have no idea how jewery or other stuff could replace using a password

[HowlingSnail]

It'd never work. You lose that or it gets stolen, you lose access to everything.

[Lyra Heartstrings]

How are passwords a problem? Don't use something stupid as your password, remember it, and you're good.

[Mirage]

Less safe than passwords in my opinion.

[TheMatrix]

I have all my passwords in a GPG-encrpyted file that I store on my computer. If I need to remember it, then I just decrypt and grep the file for what I need.
Most browsers store them as well, anyways.

Also, I make it easier on myself. I do things where every year gets a new "series" of passwords -- a common start word. Then, for each site, I have a different combination of 3-4 numbers and sometimes punctuation. When in doubt, I need only think of the year I made the account(which gives the "series" prefix), and then I try various possible numbers. And then I go to my password file.

[Emerald Dream]

This makes me wonder the "recovery" process if a physical passkey is lost or stolen. Seems to be maybe more trouble than what it is worth.

[Straight]

Something physical can be stolen by anyone, no technical know how at all. The good thing about a password is that you can encrypt it too, How can Google encrypt a physical object (I know they can encrypt the data they hold about the object).

On my dad's laptop, It has a finger print scanner which on a successful attempt it writes and submits the log in form. That's great as it actually saves me a lot of time when chrome/IE doesn't automatically fill in the data for me.

I think Microsoft's approach of pressing and doing patterns on a picture is a really unique way of looking at safety and securing an account.

[TheMatrix]

Something physical can be stolen by anyone, no technical know how at all. The good thing about a password is that you can encrypt it too, How can Google encrypt a physical object (I know they can encrypt the data they hold about the object).
It's likely that Google(and every other security-conscious site) uses a one-way encryption, also known as "hashing". It is very difficult to obtain the original data without doing what is known as a "dictionary attack", where you try millions of different combinations of characters.
In order to do so, however, you must first actually have the hash, before you can do that.