Confusion no more! If the US Commerce Department has its way, juggling multiple different passwords for all your different online accounts will be a thing of the past. The department is heading up a plan for a new online security system that will use one single log-in at the start of any session to grant you access to any and all accounts you want to use.
The plan, called the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, isn’t based around a login/password combination, but instead the use of some universal standard device filled with encrypted data about its user. Although the federal government is developing the plan, as well as the standards for usage, it will not be responsible for any database storage. In fact, according to Commerce Dept. officials, there won’t be one central database of all users, with each company responsible for keeping its own database of customers.
The plan is still in development, with no companies as yet signed on, but I’m already torn; on the one hand, no longer having to remember multiple passwords for multiple purposes is a good thing, but on the other, what if someone steals the key device from you?
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