Surveying 10,000 global consumers, the third Online Authentication Barometer, published by The FIDO Alliance, reveals the waning popularity of passwords against biometrics and passkeys that are ahead of the identity fraud curve.
Password usage is outdated as a tool against the proliferation of scams and identity theft attacks, according to the report. However biometrics emerges as a password replacement which is more seamless and capable of verifying someone based on physical characteristics that can be identically matched to data records.
For the first time, this year’s barometer is perceptive about consumers’ notions of threats that threaten data landscapes and services across enterprises and public sector. Consumers across the APAC region preferred stronger and user-friendly authentication methods, such as biometrics and passkeys.
Despite the lingering use of passwords, legacy sign-in methods are falling out of favour with consumers’ expectations during physical and online commerce experiences. The majority of people are abandoning purchases and giving up accessing services online, coupled with the common industry view that passwords are no longer a match for much more frequent and sophisticated online scams.
When asked what authentication method people consider most secure and the method they most prefer using, biometrics ranked as favourite in both categories, rising around 5% in popularity since last year. Despite this, biometrics are yet integrated enough into applications for consumers.
