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Why I like passwords (and various key locked/unlocked with passwords? Simply because I can change them, I control them. Biometrics is unsafe by design because
by xte 8y ago
Why I like passwords (and various key locked/unlocked with passwords? Simply because I can change them, I control them.
Biometrics is unsafe by design because our body can change outside our control and our body is public enough and unchangeable enough to be a REALLY unsafe authentication system for anything but human being interacting together.
External other-factor auths like OTP, side verification, port-knocking, ... are good, but they still need a password somewhere in the chain.
So no, it's not only a matter of reactionary users not willing to change but also a matter of rational safety reasoning.
- danielrm26 8y agoWhen current bio-related credentials are stolen, they're not stealing your hand or your iris or your face. They're stealing destructive hashes of those things. It'd be like having someone sketch a stick figure version of you, and then you claim your identity was stolen. No, it wasn't. Stick figure drawings only work in stick figure readers.
- xte 8y agoTake a look at some "sophisticated" retinal scan, they are in the end cameras, a special kind one. Fingerprint readers? Another kind of scanner. It doesn't matter that today's only few simpler model can be cracked with a single strip of scotch, it's only a matter of time. And we can go up, even imaging quick DNA scanner, quick enough and smart, it does not change that much, your DNA can be grabbed around you in many way. The essential point is simple: using your body means using an exposed key, using a password means using your brain that it's far harder to "expose". Also passwords are trivial enough, you can even check your keyboard for builtin keylogger, protect your environment from camera, microphone (phone/audio analyze to determine key's you press) etc. Try to hw check a biometric system and well... Good luck.