One of the biggest vulnerabilities that network security systems face is the password.
An astonishing number of employees use easy-to-guess passwords (think “123456,” “password” and others) for their work log-ins, and these weak passwords can make your network security management completely ineffective by leaving the door wide open for hackers.
However, a new keyboard could close this door forever and help keep cyber attacks at bay.
According to a January 22 Network World article, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a keyboard that can detect the user’s unique typing style, measuring variables such as how hard one presses the keys and the time interval between key strokes.
These measurements are actually highly individualized, with few people typing in exactly the same style. As a result, this so-called biometric authentication could allow a computer system to identify the user accessing it. It would no longer matter how strong a user’s password was or wasn’t, as it would be virtually impossible for a hacker to replicate another person’s typing style.
Best of all? Network World reports that the keyboard was fairly inexpensive to develop and will likely be made available on a commercial scale in as little as two years. The keyboard will be energy-efficient as well, as it is able to collect the energy generated from keystrokes and use this energy to power itself.
The Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are currently still making tweaks and adjustments to the keyboard’s software to increase its reliability, although the prototype’s rate of accuracy is already quite high.
So in just this short amount of time, your network security systems might never be compromised by weak passwords again — and you’ll have a nearly-foolproof method of deterring cyber criminals.
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