There are all sorts of apocalyptic literature: apes taking over the world is but one example. But the scariest thing I’ve read lately was published by Factonic.
“Imagine waking up one morning and realizing that every password you’ve ever created has suddenly stopped working. Your bank account, social media profiles, and even your email are either completely locked or frighteningly exposed. There’s no reset option, no backup plan—just instant confusion and panic.”
Factonic believes that massive hacks, quantum computing power, and other catastrophic events could eliminate password protections.
“In the first 24 hours after passwords stop working, the digital world would slip into chaos.
“Banking systems could either freeze to prevent unauthorized access or come under heavy attack as bad actors try to exploit the sudden vulnerability, leaving people unable to access their money or complete transactions.
“Social media accounts would be rapidly hijacked, spreading misinformation, scams, or malicious content as users lose control of their profiles.
“Meanwhile, businesses would likely shut down access to their platforms entirely in an attempt to contain the damage, halting operations and cutting off services to millions of users.”
But before you say that the passwords are finally dead and we can move on to other factors of identity verification and authentication…
…those same hacks and power could also affect all the other factors. Imagine quantum computing power that could generate matching fingerprints, faces, behaviors, and identity documents in seconds. As I said in 2021:
“But wait a minute. Isn’t it possible to spoof biometrics? And when a biometric is compromised, you can’t change your finger or your face like you can with a compromised password. And the Internet tells me that biometrics is racist anyway.
“So I guess “biometrics are dead” too, using the “passwords are dead” rationale.
“And we obviously can’t use secure documents or other “something you have” modalities either, because “something you have” is “something that can be stolen.” And you can’t vet the secure document with biometrics because we already know that biometrics are spoofable and racist and all that.
“So I guess “secure documents are dead” too.“
So much for protection. Have a good day.
Bredemarket 