The Google Password Ring
Tech giant Google is developing a data-encrypted ring that may eventually replace passwords as a new, innovative and hacker-resistant way for users to access their email, and other online accounts.
Amid an ever-present string of hacks and identity thefts related to easy-to-steal typed passwords, Google has been working on building the wearable tech ring, which could be used to log in to a computer or online account.
The ring is also viewed as a fashionable solution to an array of other problems related to traditionally typed passwords, including forgetfulness while keeping track of dozens of passwords to carry out simple web tasks like checking email or bank statements.
The device was first outlined in a January research paper written by Eric Grosse a Google security executive and Mayank Upadhyay, an engineer for the company.
"Along with many in the industry, we feel passwords and simple bearer tokens such as cookies are no longer sufficient to keep users safe," Grosse and Upadhyay wrote.
We'd like your smartphone or smart-card embedded finger ring to authorize a new computer via a tap on the computer, even in situations in which your phone might be without cellular connectivity," they added.
The accessory, which is reportedly under testing, resembles a small credential-equipped USB key that users could plug into a computer to access their personal accounts and files.
Only instead of having it hang from a keychain or sit in the bottom of a backpack, it would be worn on the ring finger.
Google, which has, in recent months, disclosed plans to get into the eyeglasses and shoes businesses, has suggested that the device works by sending a cryptographic message to prove the ring's validity when it's plugged into a computer.
The ring itself, does not contain a password and never actually sends any information. It simply proves its validity by correctly answering a mathematical equation posed by the online service its trying to access.
The company hasn't offered any aesthetic details about the prototype ring, and in a statement, a Google representative would acknowledge only that the company was working on improving the user authentication process in general. "We're focused on making authentication more secure, and yet easier to manage," the spokesman said. "We believe that ideas like USB tokens or other hardware-based systems have the potential to make login systems better."
But as a security conference, Upadhyay suggested that familiarity with a key-for-access device could a go a long way toward the ring ultimately catching on.
"Everyone is familiar with an ATM," he said "So what if you could use the same experience with a computer."
