No need to worry about your password!

Passwords are probably one of the things humans remember in a day. Though, not all people understand the complexity and safety barrier that passwords do online. In the recent press release of Microsoft, it says there that one out of 10 people reuses their passwords across websites. Worse thing, those passwords usually compose of their birthdays, names, favorite things etc.

Now, if your basic information is available online, there is a tendency that hackers can also access your account, even without you knowing. Luckily, Microsoft has a solution for this problem: introducing a passwordless feature.

Why you don’t need a password?

Whenever we create an account on any platform, passwords give us the power to make those accounts ours only— no one can control it except you. However, for Microsoft, the need for passwords is no longer a good thing for now.

In its latest press release, the tech giant promoted its “passwordless feature.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 15, Vasu Jakkal, company Corporate Vice President, Security, Compliance, and Identity, said that “passwordless future” is now here on Microsoft.

“For the past couple of years, we’ve been saying that the future is passwordless, and today I am excited to announce the next step in that vision,” he said.

Through its Microsoft Authenticator app, anyone using the software is advised to go passwordless in all their accounts. The Microsoft official noted that there is a problem in using passwords nowadays.

He remembered one friend of his saying that, “hackers don’t break in, they log in.” He said that “weak passwords” are the first step for hackers to steal anyone’s account. In their study, it was showed that there are over 500 password attacks happening every second.

Unfortunately, not all people know that. Jakkal explained that “passwords are incredibly inconvenient to create, remember, and manage across all the accounts in our lives.”

How to enable passwordless account?

Morse Code Hacking Could Evade Security Detection, Says Microsoft — Luca Bravo on Unsplash

With that explanation against passwords, Microsoft introduced using its Authenticator app. Via the said app, Microsoft users can now access their favorite accounts without having trouble to remember their passwords.

If you want, you could also use other mediums: Windows Hello, a security key, or a verification code. Once you set up that, the authentication to verify the account depends on mentioned mediums.

Here are the steps on how to enable your Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone or desktop:

Download and install the Microsoft Authenticator App (both available on Android OS and iOS)
Make sure your App is linked to your Microsoft account
Go to Microsoft account
Sign-in your credentials to open account
Head to Advance Security Options
Go to Additional Security Options
Choose Passwordless Account
Select Turn On

Once you are done with all those steps, you can now enjoy the passwordless feature on. If you want to go back on using passwords, Microsoft said that users can always go back to their account and change it.

Although, Jakkal highly advised users to try the said feature. He also mentioned that all their employees are already using their accounts without password logins.