CALIFORNIA: Yahoo has launched a new feature called “on demand” passwords that lets users log into a Yahoo account by using a short code the company texts to their phone instead of typing in their very complicated and long password.
The whole thing can be so tricky that very few people actually use it — or if they do, it’s used only for the most sensitive of messages.
But in the wake of reports from Edward Snowden about the National Security Agency’s access to data held by tech giants, many of those companies have pursued technological solutions to shore up customers trust, including an expansion of end-to-end encryption. Google announced in June that it was working on a Chrome plug-in to provide end-to-end for Gmail users. Yahoo, too, is working on end-to-end.
“This is the first step to eliminating passwords,” said Dylan Casey, Yahoo’s vice president of product management and consumer platforms, during a South by Southwest session, according to CNET.
Registering for the new on-demand feature is quite easy. Once logged into their Yahoo account, users must turn on the “on-demand password” feature under security settings. Users would then have to register their phone number. The next time they try to log in, the password field will be replaced by a button that says “send my password.” When the user clicks the button, Yahoo will send them a four-digit code they’ll have to enter to log in.
The process is similar to the two-step authentication most websites are implementing, where users have to log in with their original password and then they have to enter a code that was sent to their phone. However, Yahoo is completely bypassing the first step. Users will no longer have to remember their primary password.
If users don’t have their phone they’ll still be able to log into their account the old-fashioned way.
Along with the new password feature, Yahoo also announced its new end-to-end encryption system. The encryption system, which will make it easier to encrypt emails in the server and in transit, will be based off a Google-made Chrome extension.
