Passwords are on their way out. Microsoft, Google, Apple, and other tech giants are pushing passkeys, biometrics, and access keys to replace them. With 16 billion credentials leaked in 2025 alone, is the password era finally over? Discover the pros, cons, and what it means for your online safety.
00:00Passwords, once the backbone of our digital security, are now under serious threat.
00:19As tech giants rush to build safer alternatives, the question arises.
00:24Are we finally saying goodbye to the password era?
00:28For decades, passwords have been our gatekeepers to online accounts.
00:32But they're often weak, easily forgotten, or worse, reused across multiple platforms,
00:40making them a prime target for cybercriminals.
00:45Benoit Grummenwald, a cybersecurity expert at ESET,
00:49warns that hackers can crack passwords of eight characters or less within seconds or minutes.
00:56And when companies fail to properly protect these passwords,
01:00they become easy prizes in massive data leaks.
01:05In June alone, researchers uncovered a staggering database containing
01:10around 16 billion hacked login credentials.
01:14That's billions of keys to online identities, all vulnerable because of a weak password protection.
01:24So what's next?
01:26Tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, and TikTok are uniting through the Fast Identity Online Alliance, or FIDO, to move us beyond passwords.
01:38Microsoft has even declared the password era is ending.
01:44Since May, the company has started offering more secure password-free login options to new users by default.
01:52The new age of login security relies on access keys,
01:56a method that uses a trusted device like your smartphone
02:00to authorize access through PIN codes or biometric data like fingerprints and facial recognition.
02:07Troy Hunt, creator of the Have I Been Pawned website, highlights a major advantage.
02:16Pass keys cannot be accidentally handed over to phishing sites.
02:20Fake pages designed to steal your login information.
02:24Pass keys require prior setup on your device,
02:28and if you forget your PIN or lose your trusted smartphone,
02:32recovering access is far more complicated than hitting the usual forgot password button.
02:39So why are passwords still everywhere?
02:42Simply put, familiarity.
02:45Troy Hunt points out that even though the death of the password has been predicted many times,
02:52the reality is, we have more passwords now than ever before.
02:57The future of digital security will hinge on the human factor,
03:01and the devices we carry every day.
03:04ESET's Bernhard Grunewald warns that smartphones and other devices
03:09will become the prime targets for attackers.
03:12So users will need to take extra care in securing these gateways.
03:17Passwords may soon become relics of the past, replaced by smarter, safer technologies.
03:24But as the world moves forward, the responsibility to keep our digital lives secure
03:30still rests with each one of us.
03:33Are you ready to make the switch?
03:35What do you think about a password-free future?
