Consumers largely open to alternate authentication methods: report

Accenture announced it has published the Digital Trust in the IoT Era report, which finds that most consumers are growing tired of usernames and passwords and are interested in using alternative authentication methods.

The findings illustrate a potential demand for biometric authentication solutions as consumers look to replace the traditional password and PIN systems with other authentication methods.

The research, based on the Accenture’s survey of 24,000 consumers across six continents, finds that 60 percent of consumers find usernames and passwords cumbersome, and 77 percent are interested in using alternatives to protect their security on the Internet.

“The widespread practice of typing usernames and passwords to log on to the Internet might soon become obsolete,” said Robin Murdoch, managing director of Accenture’s internet and social business segment. “Consumers are increasingly frustrated with these traditional methods because they are becoming less reliable for protecting their personal data such as email addresses, mobile phone numbers and purchasing history.”

The research also finds that people’s openness to alternative authentication methods tend to vary from country to country, with consumers in China and India most likely to be open to alternatives, at 92 percent and 84 percent, respectively.

Seventy-eight percent of consumers in each of Brazil, Mexico and Sweden, and 74 percent in the United States, are also willing to consider authentication methods other than usernames and passwords.

“As hackers use more-sophisticated and less-obvious methods, passwords are no longer seen as the definitive answers to the security question,” Murdoch said. “Traditional one-step passwords are now being matched with alternative methods using biometric technologies such as fingerprint recognition and two-step device verification. Within the next few years we are likely to see many more consumers embracing these and other alternative methods.”

The survey also 46 percent of consumers globally are confident in the security of their personal data. Consumers in emerging countries were slightly more confident in the security of their personal data than were those in emerging countries, at 50 percent and 42 percent, respectively.

The 2015 Accenture Digital Consumer Survey polled 24,000 consumers across 24 countries, in October and November 2014, about their usage, attitudes and expectations related to digital device ownership, content consumption, broadband constraints, digital trust and the Internet of Things.

Previously reported, the European Agency for Large-Scale IT Systems (eu-LISA) recently selected Accenture, Altran and Tieto to provide a range of IT services, including biometric system maintenance, across agency locations in Brussels, Strasbourg and Tallinn.

Article Topics

Accenture  |  biometrics  |  IoT  |  market report  |  passwords  |  secure authentication