Has the Time Come for Passwords to Take a Back Seat to Security

The majority of breaches today no longer come through delivered malware as our systems have become very strong with detecting and blocking these resulting in more effort than value for the attacker. Instead, it’s easier, faster and more economical to just try and steal your password, or better yet have you provide it yourself. This podcast takes a look at the security risks that are actually derived from one of our more important security controls… passwords; and look at what we can do to minimize those risks moving forward.

Questions Dave will ask the speakers:

1. A recent study by Verizon found that more than 80 percent of breaches through hacking involve brute force or the use of lost or stolen credentials. Microsoft estimates that there are 921 password attacks per second. We’ve been educated for years by the security industry and our awareness programs that passwords are the most crucial component to protecting our environments and our information. How is it that this sacred key to our kingdom is actually resulting in opening so many doors for attackers?
2. NIST has taken steps to try and reduce the bleeding with their new Password guidelines and best practices which encourage passphrases of more characters, less complexity and less changes. Are these steps in the right direction to actually keeping us secure?
3. Many security tools are now providing artificial intelligence around login requests that look to see if the member is coming from a known device and location prior to providing access. Would implementing these types of risk based controls with MFA and a passphrase by the answer to our problems?
4. Biometrics for authentication always seemed to be the next logical step for passwords. We have our basic biometrics on devices however, those are all back supported by a password or PIN. Will we ever get to a place where we’re truly only using biometrics for all authentication?
5. I understand that Apple, Google and Microsoft are working on a solution together that will get rid of passwords. Instead, they will just leverage the biometrics on your phone as your access code to everything. With this in mind do we just need to sit tight and all our troubles will soon be fixed?

Moderator:
@David Whale - Director Information Security, Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP

Speakers:
Sohail Iqbal - CISO, Veracode
Eldon Sprickerhoff - Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, eSentire
Phillip Solakov - Director, Client Solutions, Optiv, Inc.

Recorded on 09-09-2022​