Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 47 | Page 34

EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
PATRICK HARDING , CHIEF ARCHITECT , PING IDENTITY

As threat actors become more sophisticated and lean on new technology like AI , most users underestimate the risks associated with relying on passwords to protect valuable information .

Consumers have also become increasingly frustrated with remembering multiple , complex passwords and often choose to reuse the same password on various sites , increasing security risks even further .
There are more secure alternatives that provide better digital experiences for the user . Passwordless authentication replaces traditional passwords with more seamless and secure methods and helps enterprises reduce risk and stop threats at scale .
MARTIN DUBE , VICE PRESIDENT FOR
PUBLIC CLOUD IN APJ , RACKSPACE TECHNOLOGY

Passwords as a means of confirming identity started with the Ancient Roman military and had a brief resurgence during the prohibition years in America . It is now past time that we all admit this ancient technology has served its purpose and needs to be retired .

Instead of taking time to update your passwords by adding one to the token number in the sequence , let ’ s all spend the time learning about better digital security measures .
Easy alternatives include biometrics ( fingerprints , retinal and voice ), OTPs and multifactor authentication to name just a few of the readily available options .
Most websites and applications offer one or more of these options already so there really is no excuse for still using a technology that has demonstrated time and again that it is not effective . According to research from Microsoft , as much as 99 % of fraudulent sign-in attempts can be blocked just by adding a second authentication step .
Unfortunately , Australia and Australian ’ s face an ever-increasing threat landscape . According to CommBank research , Australians receive an average of five scam calls , emails or messages a week , equating to over 250 attempts a year . With the number of cyber-attacks in Australia increasing every day , it is time we all adopted a modern solution to tackle this ancient problem .”
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