The growing importance of internet security cannot be emphasised enough. With criminals finding more advanced ways to access personal data, sensitive information and payment methods, keeping up-to-date on the best security practices is paramount. One quick and easy solution is ensuring your passwords are adequate, although many web users opt for a guessable combination of words and numbers, or even repeat the same word for multiple sites. Though password protection may seem like a relatively new idea, you may be surprised to find out that this idea was proposed over 60 years ago! Alongside spam filters and antivirus cleaners, password security measures are still among the top ways to enhance cybersecurity.
Continue reading to discover the history of password protection, and how this security method may develop in the future.
Early Passwords
Passwords were first presented as a potential security solution in the 1960s at The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology by famed computer scientist Fernando Corbató. Proposed as a privacy measure for the recently developed Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), Corbató had no idea of the widespread impact that his invention of computer passwords would have. Initially only restricted to researchers and academics, passwords spread into the mainstream with the explosion of the internet in the 1990s, with the complex practices of ‘salting’ and ‘hashing’ being used by data scientists to further reinforce the protection of information.
Developments In Password Protection
Despite Microsoft founder Bill Gates declaring that passwords would become redundant as far back as 2004, the world’s biggest online companies and services still utilise password protection as a means of concealing user information. Modern developments have seen passphrases introduced as an alternative to passwords, representing a solution which is longer, more complex and supposedly easier to remember. These phrases constitute complicated yet memorable sentences which are typed in much the same way as a password is, alongside a username or email address. Developments in password protection have also seen sites introducing compulsory password measures, such as the inclusion of symbols, capital letters and numbers.
The Future Of Internet Passwords
New groundbreaking security measures have not remained limited to simply ensuring typed passwords are more complex, with innovations in digital identification processes stretching to facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. One of the best ways to ensure correct verification, these biometric cybersecurity solutions are likely to be built upon as the go-to security measure in the future.
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