The right fingerprint can now log you into your work laptop and facial recognition can open your iPhone.
However, IT leaders anticipate resistance to the biometric option in their organizations as non-password authenticators become more common on everyday devices: Despite the fact that 84% of global IT leaders believe that passwords are a deceptively weak method of storing data, 97% of respondents who haven’t yet adopted passwordless authentication predict difficulties in doing so, citing a lack of urgency, technical know-how, and support.
According to the report, many of these obstacles are cultural rather than technological. While 88% of those without passwordless authentication believe their organization would be resistant to adopting it, 93% of the 600 IT leaders polled said that their organization is “at least somewhat likely” to adopt it.
Organizations must place a strong emphasis on two concepts, communication and ease of use, to get past the “cultural” barriers.
What is the issue?
While passwordless alternatives like biometrics, pins, and hardware security keys remove the hacker’s guessable character-string option, Zain Malik, senior product marketing manager at Ping Identity, finds it frustrating that businesses find it difficult to do away with the old authenticator.
Because there are fewer restrictions and barriers to entry than ever before, it can be frustrating. Now that biometrics are available on our devices.
Breathe easily
Implementing passwordless may face challenging challenges: For office workers, a thumbprint reader might be a good option, but not for gloved factory workers.
Manfred Schmutzer, CTO of PCTronics Inc., emphasizes the significance of keeping the authentication path straightforward to gain support from recalcitrant humans.
The easier you can make it for people to access their tools and applications, the more likely I believe most people will be to accept it, said Schmutzer.
Some businesses encourage employees to complete their authentication as soon as possible to facilitate access. Malik, for instance, uses his thumbprint to sign in to his “dock” each morning; as long as his device behaves normally after that, no additional apps or programs require a password.
Executive sponsorship is a final factor in password-free implementations that are successful.
When comparing the financial costs of password attacks and help-desk requests, passwordless authentication saves the average organization, over the course of two years, about $1.9M in costs! It really is the next step for security.
