[OT] Security Goes Visual

[Scott Rossi]

The recent thread regarding "thinking graphically" reminded of a recent
update my bank made to enhance protection for online banking customers: they
added a visual aspect to the login process.

When logging into your account, you must now choose an image from a library
containing hundreds (thousands?) of images, and related word or phrase that
you are to be presented with every time you log in.  Presumably this step
was taken to thwart phishing attempts since it's pretty difficult, if not
impossible, to replicate the login process (the image and login word/phrase
are stored on the server).

We'll have to see how effective this technique is in the long run.  But as a
designer, I find this development to be very interesting and wonder if the
same safeguards will eventually be be applied to other situations requiring
secure login/registration, including software.  Pretty soon we'll have to
start keeping track of all our visual passwords, either in an image
database, or in a descriptive text version of the same.

Something to think about...

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director
Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
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E: scott at tactilemedia.com
W: http://www.tactilemedia.com