Did you know that the first Thursday of May is celebrated as World Password Day?!
Nuance, specialists in ‘conversational AI’ software solutions, recently conducted a 5-country survey to understand consumer attitudes to passwords and the potential of biometrics to safeguard individuals from fraud.
The study found that:
- Consumers find it challenging to maintain passwords for different online accounts
- 1 in 4 people forget their passwords at least once a month
- In the last 12 months, 1 in 4 people globally have been victims of fraud thanks to inadequately protected accounts
- Despite fraud, 1 out of 4 victims did not bother to change their passwords for other accounts, leaving them further exposed to crime
As the number and frequency of data breaches increases (indicating a growing failure of passwords to do their job), the use of physical characteristics like fingerprints or retinal scans, i.e. biometrics to authenticate individuals and prevent fraud is becoming more wide-spread.
- Globally, some 400 million consumers make over 8 billion successful authentications yearly
- More than 68% of survey responders feel comfortable using biometrics
- Nearly 1 in 3 respondents already rely on biometrics to unlock their devices
By placing the emphasis on a person’s unique characteristics and reducing the reliance on tedious PINs and passwords, biometrics make authentication easier and more secure – giving us all a great reason to celebrate World Password Day!
For this post, we would like to thank Nuance and their article Consumers get ready to fight fraud with biometrics, published here on 2nd May 2019.
