Five New Ways to Really Verify Your Identity
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 3:01 am
Alexander Zhuravlev | 07.03.2018
After the Equifax breach compromised the personal data of more than half of the U.S. adult population, security firms are ramping up development of new ways for users to securely log in to services. eWeek reports on the current state of these efforts .
Proving that you are you has always required some trickery. In the old days, when personal information was rarely posted online, asking a few personal questions was all it took to reliably verify your identity. Answering those questions correctly would give you access to a variety of sensitive information. But last year's Equifax data breach seriously undermined confidence that static information could reliably monitor security.
“The days of static information being useful for ivory coast mobile database an individual are long gone, but we as an industry are not willing to deny that,” says Robert Capps, vice president and authentication strategist at NuData Security. “We used to use Social Security numbers and mothers’ maiden names for verification, with some follow-up questions like what color your first car was or how much you pay on your mortgage. Now, all that information is falling into the hands of bad guys.”
Since similar questions are also asked when recovering accounts, finding more reliable ways to verify identity has become a very important area of research today.
While the use of sensitive personal information, and of course passwords, is not yet being replaced by other technologies, companies and security experts are increasingly looking for new approaches to personal authentication.
Below are five technologies that could change the way you log into restricted sites and prove who you are.
1. Devices as keys. This technology is not new, but has become much more popular with the spread of Apple Watch smart watches and other wearable devices. A personal gadget is increasingly becoming a means of protecting services from fraud, and it can be used not only as a payment tool, but also as a means of automatically logging into websites.
After the Equifax breach compromised the personal data of more than half of the U.S. adult population, security firms are ramping up development of new ways for users to securely log in to services. eWeek reports on the current state of these efforts .
Proving that you are you has always required some trickery. In the old days, when personal information was rarely posted online, asking a few personal questions was all it took to reliably verify your identity. Answering those questions correctly would give you access to a variety of sensitive information. But last year's Equifax data breach seriously undermined confidence that static information could reliably monitor security.
“The days of static information being useful for ivory coast mobile database an individual are long gone, but we as an industry are not willing to deny that,” says Robert Capps, vice president and authentication strategist at NuData Security. “We used to use Social Security numbers and mothers’ maiden names for verification, with some follow-up questions like what color your first car was or how much you pay on your mortgage. Now, all that information is falling into the hands of bad guys.”
Since similar questions are also asked when recovering accounts, finding more reliable ways to verify identity has become a very important area of research today.
While the use of sensitive personal information, and of course passwords, is not yet being replaced by other technologies, companies and security experts are increasingly looking for new approaches to personal authentication.
Below are five technologies that could change the way you log into restricted sites and prove who you are.
1. Devices as keys. This technology is not new, but has become much more popular with the spread of Apple Watch smart watches and other wearable devices. A personal gadget is increasingly becoming a means of protecting services from fraud, and it can be used not only as a payment tool, but also as a means of automatically logging into websites.