Lack of Passwords is the Future; Microsoft Doubts Traditional Logins
Windows 11 is just one of Microsoft's projects. The company is also preparing a new account login option to discourage users from using traditional and unreliable passwords.
Although Windows 11 will debut as an update for W10, it will bring enough changes to really consider it as the next operating system. However, Microsoft is working not only on W11. The company is also preparing other new features, including the newly revealed Microsoft account login option without passwords.
Of course, it's not the lack of any account security, but the use of the Microsoft Authenticator mobile app. The Redmond giant believes that traditional passwords are too unreliable. So much so that, as we read in an article by Joy Chik, vice president of corporate affairs for Microsoft's Identity division, even untrained hackers can be successful at cracking this security measure, despite using tools from three decades ago. It's all because of human predictability, which is evident with every publication about the popular passwords used by users. Vasu Jakkal, Microsoft's vice president of corporate affairs responsible for security, compliance and identity, made a similar point in a separate article.
Microsoft considers traditional passwords unreliable, even with two-factor authentication (source: Microsoft).
Of course, a well-known and widely used solution is the so-called two-factor authentication, which means logging in with a password and confirmation with a code sent to an e-mail, phone, etc. However, Microsoft points out that hackers happen to skip the second step altogether, citing the 2019 account theft case. There also remains the issue of phishing for passwords, as experienced, for example, by some users of Steam.
It's easy to predict that not everyone will be convinced to give up their passwords. Perhaps that's why Microsoft is organizing the Your Passwordless Future Starts Now presentationon October 13. The one and a half hour panel is to be spent talking with experts about building the "passwordless future". The Redmond giant will probably also show its ideas for replacing traditional logins, including for the Azure network (administrators are to be given the option to force, choose or prohibit the use of passwords).
Nevertheless, for now, Microsoft is announcing passwordless accounts only as an option, not a requirement. Windows 11 users will still be able to use existing authentication methods and enable (or not) two-step verification.
