APPS & BOTS
At the recent I/O developer conference, a must-attend for those looking for the inside track on tech industry development, Google announced plans to kill the password.
Well not really. The leader of Google’s research unit Advanced Technology and Projects Daniel Kaufman announced that the company wants to abolish the typed password — that endlessly updated anachronism in our tech lives — but it’s hoping the move will make your information more secure.
Project Abacus is announced for the first time at the 2015 I/O conference.
Instead of a written code, Google is touting a host of biometric authentications that your smart phone and other devices will be able to pick up on, thereby allowing you access to your data.
The new security measures are called Project Abacus. They include facial and vocal analysis, plus dissecting your distance from your most-visited points of wi-fi access, the way you type, swipe — even walk — a plethora of factors that will add up to your “trust score.”
If your trust score isn’t high enough, Androids will lock access to private content, allowing guests on your phone to basic applications.
Apple has a similar program that is already available on its device called Touch ID, which analyzes user fingerprints.
Reportedly, financial institutions will be testing Project Abacus before it is made available to the general public’s devices by the end of the year. Previously, the technology was on trial at universities in 28 different states.
It all sounds thrilling to someone who is constantly having to reset their passwords to … everything.
But one does have to wonder about the implications of one’s phone being able to “know” who you are using your gait and swipe technique. Every advancement in tech security, it seems, leads to new ways of being surveilled by our appliances.
THE NEWS
