VIDEO: Fingerprints are not the same as passwords

Ways in which fingerprints are different from passwords:

• Your passwords can be kept secret. You leave your fingerprints lying around everywhere.
• You should have different passwords for everything you do. You only have ten fingerprints to choose from (if you have the typical allocation of hands).
• If the worst happens, you can always change your passwords. You can’t change your fingerprints. You’re stuck with them for life.
• You can forget your passwords. You always have your fingerprints on you.
• Your fingerprints aren’t easily guessable, as you never have one that’s the name of your favourite football team or something dumb like Fingerprint1.

Ways in which fingerprints are the same as passwords:

• You have to trust that the organisations with whom you share your fingerprints and passwords take security seriously.

Learn more in my video about why the differences between passwords and fingerprints matter, and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you would like me to make more short films about computer security issues.

Further reading:

• Hackers have stolen almost six million US government fingerprints.

Found this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter or Mastodon to read more of the exclusive content we post.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.