Over 80% of corporate data breaches are caused by stolen or weak user credentials.1 Such a data breach can cause businesses to lose half of their customers.2 As we must remember, store, or recall so many passwords for an ever-increasing number of digital accounts and services, it is only natural that so many people turn to repeated or simplistic passwords. In fact, 59% of consumers use the same password for multiple accounts3, and the password “123456” is still used by 23 million account holders.4 This proves that passwords are evidently an insufficient means of digital access management. In the age of IoT integration, authentication of our digital identities must also become more sophisticated, connected, and convenient.
With drastic increases in the use of home offices due to the COVID-19 pandemic and significantly more of the workload being conducted in the cloud, the security of our digital identities has never been more important. We are also inching closer to connected cities, which will require centralized, federated, user-centric, and self-sovereign digital identity. According to UNESCO, 70% of the world’s population will reside in urban areas, which will mostly comprise smart cities, by 2050.5 To connect citizens with basic smart services – from health to public transport to payment services – seamless, secure, and connected digital identity tools will be key. Passwords will simply not be able to provide the necessary integration for digital identities in smart cities.