Survey reveals biometrics demand with 84% supporting eliminating passwords

Mobile authentication platform firm LaunchKey released findings from a recent survey it commissioned in which 84% of respondents said that they would support eliminating passwords as an authentication method.

The survey results also found that 76% of respondents feel their data would be more secure with an alternative form of verification, with 59% preferring fingerprint scans over passwords.

Additionally, 46% of survey respondents said they currently have more than 10 passwords to manage, 68% admitted that they reuse passwords for multiple accounts, and 77% said they often forget passwords or have to write them down.

Respondents’ also stated that their top password “pet peeves” are those systems that require users to change their password frequently, and systems that require users to create passwords that do not share the same format as the one they regularly use.

The survey also found that 27% of survey respondents acknowledged sharing their passwords with another individual.

“Passwords are inherently insecure as a method of authentication, and their efficacy relies on end users, developers, system administrators, and the applications themselves, all of which are vulnerable to a wide variety of attack vectors currently being exploited by cyberattacks around the world,” said Geoff Sanders, CEO of LaunchKey. “The future of authentication is free from traditional passwords. We must remove the vulnerability and liability that passwords have created while implementing more secure authentication methods that account for an evolving and diversified landscape of use cases, end users and threats.”

Sanders said that while strong authentication is certainly the verification approach to be taken, the survey found that two-factor authentication (2FA) is insufficient.

An overwhelming 64% of respondents admitted that they do not know what 2FA is and only 20% of respondents considered 2FA easy to use.

The survey also included questions regarding the users’ trust of public institutions to protect personal information. Some 52% of respondents said they have little to no confidence in retail stores being able to properly secure one’s personal information, while 43% said they had little to no confidence in online retailers.

In contrast, 48% of respondents expressed high confidence in banks being able to protect personal information.

An undisclosed third-party firm conducted the survey, on behalf of LaunchKey, in which the company asked a series of questions to 589 Americans aged 18 years or older.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  industry survey  |  Launchkey  |  passwords