Our websites ask us this question probably a dozen times a day. Each of our sites requires us to prove we are who we say we are by entering our username and password. But what's that username again? Is it the one where my first two initials are capitalized? Was this the site where I had to put weird characters and numbers in my password? Has my 90 days been up? Do I need to think of a new password? How can I remember my password if I don't write it down? The questions go on and on. What a broken, flawed system we have. Each website has their own policy on what a password should look like. Some don't even care and let you make your password... password.
As a programmer and an avid web user, this drives me crazy. I prefer social media authentication. It's such a smooth process, and I've yet to run into any issues with it. My Facebook account has never been hacked { knock on wood }, so this is by far my preferred choice for logging into websites. But is it secure? Maybe. But I find myself asking the question... "Should I trust my information and access to all my sites { that have this functionality } to a social networking site? To me, it's like going to a seafood restaurant and asking for a chicken sandwich. It's not their specialty... it's not what they do... so I probably shouldn't get too mad if it's bad or I get sick. Is the same true for social media authentication? It's not their specialty? In fact, it appears selling information is their specialty, which should raise even more red flags.
Google authentication seems to be catching on with popularity. But if you believe the ads and gossip, they're selling information too! I do feel that Google may be our best bet for getting out of this awful credentials authentication mess. They seem to be on the cutting edge of most things technology related, and the certainly have the capital to back such a movement, should they find it profitable. But until that day comes... Click here to recover password..... sigh!
As a programmer and an avid web user, this drives me crazy. I prefer social media authentication. It's such a smooth process, and I've yet to run into any issues with it. My Facebook account has never been hacked { knock on wood }, so this is by far my preferred choice for logging into websites. But is it secure? Maybe. But I find myself asking the question... "Should I trust my information and access to all my sites { that have this functionality } to a social networking site? To me, it's like going to a seafood restaurant and asking for a chicken sandwich. It's not their specialty... it's not what they do... so I probably shouldn't get too mad if it's bad or I get sick. Is the same true for social media authentication? It's not their specialty? In fact, it appears selling information is their specialty, which should raise even more red flags.
Google authentication seems to be catching on with popularity. But if you believe the ads and gossip, they're selling information too! I do feel that Google may be our best bet for getting out of this awful credentials authentication mess. They seem to be on the cutting edge of most things technology related, and the certainly have the capital to back such a movement, should they find it profitable. But until that day comes... Click here to recover password..... sigh!
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