User authentication has become the foundation of secure access to sensitive information and services. Over the years, the methods of authentication have evolved from the early days of simple passwords, to the advanced biometric based passkeys, the evolution of authentication has been governed by increased user demands for security and usability.
The article explores the evolution of authentication from its origins to modern innovations, reviewing the different technological shifts, and how companies like OwnID are leading the way toward a passwordless future.
The Dawn of User Authentication: Password Era
Passwords have their origins in early computing in the 1960s, where computers were located in academic and government research environments. In fact, passwords were implemented as a quick fix to limit access to these then-expensive machines. Users were assigned unique strings of characters that they had to enter in order to access the system. This approach, while workable in the early days of computing, soon showed its weaknesses.
As personal computer usage expanded in the 1980s, and with the explosion of the internet in the 1990s, passwords were everywhere: everything from email accounts to bank transactions required one.
But the simplicity that made passwords appealing also turned out to be their largest vulnerability.
Users tended (and still do) either to select too simple, easy to remember passwords or to use the same password on many accounts, which eventually became a security hole that hackers took advantage of.
Into the 2000s, it became evident that passwords alone did not suffice. Password management tools, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and two-factor authentication introduced fixes for the increasing security threats but were not foolproof either.
Users still had to remember his passwords, often leading to poor password hygiene; likewise, MFA systems, while more secure, added friction to the user experience.
Multi-Factor Authentication and Token-Based Security
The strategies to protect online identities started to evolve once the threats in the form of security of digital identities started becoming more complex. Then, MFA emerged, a more secure method compared to the password-only model.
Two or more verification factors have to be provided by users to access an account. These factors can be something a person knows, which could be a password; something they have, which is a smartphone or hardware token; and something they are, which means biometric data.
Another layer of security came along with the introduction of token-based security methods. Hardware tokens, such as USB security keys, and software tokens pop up a time-sensitive code, which is required along with a password. This greatly lowered the risk of an account compromise, because even in the event of a hacker correctly guessing a user’s password, he would still need the token itself to get access.
While MFA and token-based security surely enhanced protection for the accounts, the processes added further complexity and more user friction.
Now people had to juggle several devices and remember additional steps involved in login. This highlighted the urgent need for a more seamless yet secure authentication solution.
The Emergence of Biometric Authentication
Biometric authentication has represented a significant leap in both security and usability.
For example, fingerprint and face recognition or even iris scanning, offered unique and almost impossible to forge methods of identity verification.
By 2010, biometric authentication began to take center stage, with fingerprint scanners on smartphones and face recognition on modern devices starting to appear.
In 2013, when Apple introduced Touch ID, and in 2017, when they introduced Face ID, things in the world of biometric security began to change, placing such functionalities firmly in the consumer space. Each of these systems leveraged new hardware and software capabilities to enable fast, secure, and extremely convenient user experiences. Soon enough, other technology giants were also enabling biometric authentication on various devices and services.
Biometrics addressed many of the problems with passwords. Users no longer had to remember complex passwords or carry extra security tokens. Biometric data was intrinsic to the user, difficult to replicate, and thus provided a much more secure alternative to traditional authentication methods.
But while biometric systems worked well for personal devices, businesses and platforms still had to find scalable solutions for user authentication across multiple devices and services.
Passkeys: The Future of Passwordless Authentication
With biometrics on the rise, it was now evident that the future of authentication wasn’t just more secure, it was completely passwordless.
The Fast Identity Online (FIDO Alliance) formed in 2012, aimed to create new standards that would totally negate the use of passwords, using more secure and user-friendly options for authentication.
FIDO standards centered on biometric authentication and asymmetrical public key cryptographic techniques as a means of providing strong, phishing-resistant authentication without relying on passwords.
Later, in 2021 these activities resulted in an innovative authentication method called passkeys.
A passkey is a pair of cryptographic keys: one private, securely encrypted on the user’s device, and one public key, shared with the service.
The device uses a biometric factor (fingerprint, facial recognition) to verify the user’s identity when he or she wants to log in and then uses that private key for session authentication. The beauty of passkeys lies in the fact that users never need to use passwords, reducing the exposure to phishing attacks, password reuse, and weak credentials completely.
How OwnID is Leading the Charge in Passkey Adoption
Companies like OwnID are leading the passwordless revolution, making passkey adoption accessible to both the business and users.
OwnID was founded by the creators that brought us Gigya, a customer identity management platform acquired by SAP in 2017. The team saw the emerging opportunity in the landscape of user authentication and launched OwnID, with the goal of making authentication seamless and frictionless, driving users to register & login faster and more often.
Own ID is making it simple for everyone to implement and use passkeys through tools and APIs that work with an existing platform, making the transition seamless and ultra secure.
By leveraging FIDO2 and WebAuthn standards, OwnID ensures that the process is not only secure, but user friendly.
A Passwordless World: The Future of Authentication
With more businesses and users adopting passkeys, the traditional password may soon become a relic of the past. Moving from passwords to passkeys is a shift in perspective as much as it is in technology. It’s no longer about remembering complex strings of characters; it’s about seamless, secure access with devices to everyday services.
Platforms like OwnID are essential in this transformation, enabling business and users alike to head toward the future of authentication. The idea behind passkeys is way safer and more user-friendly, ridding the world of passwords and depending on biometric data to keep personal and professional information safe.
That means that, moving forward, in a few years, passkeys will become the default method of authentication for most industries, eliminating the risks of password-based security and opening the door to a whole new world of digital safety.
Read More From Techbullion
