The three companies are part of the FIDO Alliance (Fast Identity Online). This week, the trio of web browser providers said they are collaborating on a “common passwordless sign-in standard”. In a press release, FIDO says that handling various passwords on multiple accounts from web browser to web browser is not only frustrating but could be a major problem if a customer is hacked: “Password-only authentication is one of the biggest security problems on the web, and managing so many passwords is cumbersome for consumers, which often leads consumers to reuse the same ones across services. This practice can lead to costly account takeovers, data breaches, and even stolen identities. While password managers and legacy forms of two-factor authentication offer incremental improvements, there has been industry-wide collaboration to create sign-in technology that is more convenient and more secure.”
Moving Ahead
All this will be sweet candy to Microsoft’s ears. Redmond – more than any other Big Tech company – has been pushing for a passwordless future. FIDO is currently not providing technical details of what its passwordless vision will look like. Although, the group says they are working with various partners and other tech companies and will start rolling out the new tools during the coming year. “The expanded standards-based capabilities will give websites and apps the ability to offer an end-to-end passwordless option. Users will sign in through the same action that they take multiple times each day to unlock their devices, such as a simple verification of their fingerprint or face, or a device PIN.” Tip of the day: With a single registry tweak, it’s possible to add a ‘Take Ownership’ button to the right-click context menu that performs all of the necessary actions for you. You’ll gain full access to all possible actions, including deletion, renaming, and more. All files and subfolders will also be under your name. The Take Ownership context menu will set the currently active user as the owner of the files, though they must also be an administrator. They can then enter the folder or modify the file as they usually would.
