Why passthoughts could make passwords a thing of the past

It's no secret that passwords aren't impenetrable. Even outside of major incidents like thecelebrity nude photo hack, or when millions of passwords get released online, like what happened toTwitterrecently, many of us may still be at risk of having our data compromised due to password-related security flaws.

According to a June 2015 survey from mobile identity companyTeleSign, two in five people were notified in the preceding year that their personal information was compromised or that they had been hacked or had their password stolen.

But a new technology developed by the BioSenselab at the University of California, Berkeley could make all of that a thing of the past.

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Over the course of three years, the lab's co-director, JohnChuang, and his graduate students have been working on a technology calledpassthoughts, which would use a person's brainwaves to identify them, according toCNET.

The team has found that a passthought something like a song that someone could sing in their mind isn't easily forgotten and can achieve a 99-per-cent authentication accuracy rate.

Thedeviceused to capturepassthoughts resembles a telephone headset. It relies on EEG technology, detecting electrical activity in your brain via electrodes strapped to your head. And although Chuang's team say the technology has improved greatly in recent years, the awkwardness of the device might hinder it from being widely adopted.

While it will likely take some time before passthoughts become ubiquitous, we might soon see some of Chuang's work in technology that identifies you by the contours of your body, including your skin pores, ear folds and the exact symmetry of your face.

This technology known asbiometrictechnology focuses on what makes you different than everyone else. Fingerprint readers are probably the most well-known example, and while they provide better security than your typical password, fingerprints can still be replicated with high-resolution photos.

Because every brain creates a different electrical signal,passthoughts can't be copied.

While we wait for biometrics to mature enough to become a practical alternative to traditional passwords, there are steps you can take now to protect your data, such as enablingtwo-factor authentication, requiring a code along with your password, and avoiding usingeasy-to-guess passwords.