Your extra capital letters, numbers, and special characters may have to find a new home soon, because Yahoo has a new system to get rid of all those annoying passwords. You know, because you totally don’t just use the same one for everything. That would be irresponsible.
Yahoo’s new system is similar to two-step authentication systems that send a time-sensitive login code to your phone, except it does away with the “part one” of the whole “two-step” thing. There is no original password. You tell your Yahoo account where to send your “on-demand” passwords, and you’re sent a unique, one-time login code when you need to access it.
It’s not quite as secure as two-step authentication and a bit clunkier than traditional passwords—depending on character requirements and your memory skills—but on-demand passwords may be the best of both worlds for the time being. Cnet reports that Dylan Casey, Yahoo’s vice president of product management for consumer platforms, said, “This is the first step to eliminating passwords,” at SXSW in Austin.
We’ll miss you, comically stupid “Worst Password” lists.
(via The Verge, image via Christoph Kummer)
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