Since 2016, more than 5 billion passwords have been stolen globally. More than half of all consumer banking logins come from malicious sources. Clearly, the password-based login methods are vulnerable to rapidly intensifying hacking and phishing. Transition towards biometric-based password-less login and multi-factor authentication has already started. But, the extra security will help only if it is made dumb-ass easy for the users!

Could the Smart Ring be the answer? This blog explains how the Smart Ring could enable reliable, hassle-free biometric authentication.

Online Security Today… or, the lack of it‍

Our current methods of online identification aren’t secure anymore. The passwords are not a strong enough protection method anymore. Some people use simple, easy-to-hack passwords, others use the same password across multiple accounts, and, sometimes the websites simply do not have adequate security in place.

The legacy password-based authentication system, the centralized password databases and other shared secrets have become an easy attack surface for hackers to steal credentials. Theft of passwords, identities and credentials is an issue for both consumers and companies alike.

Here’s an overview of how the next generation cyber security will give us better protection in the online world, and, what the Smart Ring will have to do this it!

What is Password-less, Biometric Authentication?

Passwordless login methods mean that the legacy passwords are replaced by hardware-based authentication. Mobile devices such as hardware tokens, smartphones, and Smart Rings, such as Motiv Ring can be used to authenticate users to seamlessly log in laptops, mobile devices, applications, online services, and physical access systems.

Passwordless login requires, of course, unique authentication techniques such as biometrics.

Smartphones can already authenticate users based on fingerprint and facial scan.

One of the most promising security protocols is WebAuthn (Web Authentication), which has the potential to completely do away with the need for passwords. ‍

Smart Ring and Biometric Authentication

The Smart Ring form-factor provides a few unique methods for biometric authentication. They could be used to enable electrocardiogram-based (ECG) authentication, which is built on the premise that an individual’s cardiac rhythm is completely unique, just like their fingerprints. It identifies and authenticates users by measuring specific points in their heartbeat.

Motiv Ring is planning to launch the WalkID™ feature, which authenticates the user based on the way how he or she walks. A person’s walking style, or “gait”, and the pace at which a person normally walks, is unique and distinguishable, and this makes it a potential biometric factor for authentication.

The unique benefit of Smart Ring is in its form-factor. It is light, unnoticeable, and very personal wearable device, which can be easily worn through a day and night without putting it away. It mounts tightly on a finger and doesn’t fall off easily.

The Smart Rings equipped with the appropriate sensors and wireless connectivity can provide biometric authentication and transmit the identification information to other devices and systems.

What is Two-Factor Authentication?

Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to the online authentication process by making it harder for attackers to gain access to a person’s devices or online accounts, because knowing the victim’s password alone is not enough to pass the authentication check.

Two-factor authentication is a method of confirming user’s identity by using a combination of at least two different factors listed below:

1. something that the user only knows

2. something that the user has

3. something the user is.

In single-factor authentication (SFA) the user provides only one authentication factor – usually a password or passcode. Two-factor authentication methods rely on users providing a password, and a second authentication factor, usually either a security token, or Smart Ring (something the user has), or a biometric factor such as a fingerprint, or facial scan (something the user is).

Motiv Ring’s Two-factor Authentication – How does it work?

Motiv Ring has expanded its security offering to include Apple Face ID and Touch ID on the Motiv App, which is available on iOS via software update.‍

Motiv Ring’s Two-Factor Authentication protects your online accounts – everything from email to banking and personal finance – from identity theft. The Apple Face ID and Touch ID authentication techniques built into your smartphones will provide an additional layer of security with biometric-backed two-factor authentication for your devices and online services through Motiv Ring.

Here you can see how to set up Two-factor Authentication on Motiv Ring.

Smart Rings for Reliable and Easier Online Security

The dramatic global growth in password and identity theft has been possible partly because of the legacy password system is not strong enough, people are careless, and sometimes the websites simply do not have adequate security built in.

A stronger security system is clearly required because our lives are becoming ever more digital. But, having strong cyber security protocols is not yet enough – they must be easy to use, and seamless, for the user.