LAS VEGAS: Intel’s True Key replaces the ‘master passwords’ traditionally used in password managers with information about you, such as your facial features or the number of devices you own.
Say goodbye to passwords and hello to having your face open your favorite websites.
Chipmaker Intel has come up with tools to use biometrics — facial recognition — to replace passwords.
It introduced a new password manager app True Key at the Consumer Electronics Show this weekend. It plans to start previewing True Key this month.
The preview works with Windows computers and Android phones for facial recognition, but not on Apple devices. For the iPhone and iPad, True Key serves as a password manager — facial recognition will be added when the app launches to the general public later in the year.
Here’s how it works: Download the app, register and take a photo of your face with your smartphone camera or webcam. Now, instead of opening up websites by typing in a password, True Key will do the work based on your image.
“Our goal is the elimination of passwords altogether,” says Mark Hocking, a vice president with Intel Security.
The past year has seen countless reports of hacks — Target, Home Depot, Staples and Sony — with consumers urged to protect their digital identity by changing passwords every three months, with different combinations of letters, numbers and symbols.
Analysts tell us we need a different password for each website we go to. Many have recommended using password manager apps to keep track of them.
Besides making the chips that run most Windows and Apple computers, Intel is a big player in security. It owns McAfee antivirus software, and in December, bought Montreal-based password manager PasswordBox for an undisclosed sum.
PasswordBox competes with Dashlane, Lastpass and many other popular password managers, which are free to use initially, but then charge subscription fees.
Like PasswordBox, True Key plans to operate on a “freemium” model. It will be free to be used with 15 websites. To use it with more sites, the fee will be $US19.95 a year.
The app won’t eliminate the need for passwords, Hocking says — “but it will make it easier, over time. It will be a long time before they’re (passwords) gone.”
