From “Open Sesame” to No Passwords: The Past, Present, and Future of Authentication

A Brief History of Passwords

Ancient Origins: Passwords are far older than computers. The idea of a secret “watchword” was used by Roman military guards to distinguish friend from foe centuries ago. Even Shakespeare’s Hamlet opens with a password challenge (“Long live the King!”) at the castle ramparts. The concept was simple: a shared secret that grants you access.

First Computer Passwords: Fast forward to 1960 at MIT, where Fernando Corbató introduced the first computer password on a time-sharing system (CTSS) to separate users’ files. Instead of one giant communal login, each user got their own account and password – a novel idea at the time. It wasn’t perfect (Corbató himself later admitted it was a rudimentary solution), but it caught on quickly as a straightforward way to keep individual files private in a multi-user environment. In fact, MIT’s system may have also suffered the first password “breach” in 1966, when a bug accidentally printed out the entire password file to every user’s terminal – a sign of security troubles to come.

Early Improvements: As computers spread, securing passwords became important. In the 1970s, cryptographer Robert Morris Sr. at Bell Labs introduced password hashing – storing only a one-way cryptographic hash of passwords instead of the passwords themselves. This meant even if someone stole the password file, they’d get gibberish (the hashes) rather than the actual secrets. Soon after, techniques like salting (adding random data before hashing) were adopted to make cracking stolen hashes harder. These advances, born on early UNIX systems, set the foundation for how passwords are still stored today. For a while, this was enough: outright “hacking” in the modern sense wasn’t common until the 1980s.

Passwords Everywhere: By the 1990s, the web and email brought passwords into everyone’s lives. Logging in became routine for computer and internet users. Early on, a short, easy password like your pet’s name felt fine – after all, who else would try to log in as you? But as online services exploded, people had to create more accounts than they could easily remember. This led to some predictable problems. Many fell into using the same one or two passwords across all sites for convenience. Others chose hilariously weak passwords – year after year, “123456” and “password” top the worst-passwords list. On the flip side, corporate systems began enforcing complex rules (mix of letters, numbers, symbols) that made passwords harder to guess and harder to remember. The result? Sticky notes on monitors and a booming business in password reset emails.

Password Managers Arrive: By the 2000s, it was clear humans needed help managing all those logins. This gave rise to password manager tools that store your passwords in an encrypted vault so you only have to remember one master password. Early examples include open-source KeePass (first released in the early 2000s) and cloud-based services like LastPass (launched in 2008). These tools could generate long, unique passwords for each account and auto-fill them for you. Over time they went mainstream – by 2017, Consumer Reports identified KeePass, 1Password, Dashlane, and LastPass as among the most widely used password managers for consumers. Password managers mitigated some security issues (like reuse), but of course they introduced a new concern: if your one master password or manager app was compromised, all your accounts were at risk. Still, using a manager plus enabling two-factor authentication became the security best practice to shore up the aging password model.

Why Passwords Became a Problem

The Convenience vs. Security Tradeoff: The fundamental issue with passwords is that they ask humans to do something we’re bad at: create and remember dozens of unique, complex strings. Short, simple passwords (easy for us) are also easy for attackers to guess. Long, random passwords (safer) are hard for us to recall or type. The average person today has so many online accounts – email, banking, shopping, social media, work apps, and on and on – that reusing a few passwords is almost inevitable. Unfortunately, if one site gets breached and your password leaks, attackers will try that same password everywhere. As one report bluntly put it, “password-only authentication is one of the biggest security problems on the web,” and the hassle of managing many accounts leads people to reuse credentials across services.

Breaches and Attacks Surge: Weak and reused passwords have fueled countless security incidents. Major companies like LinkedIn and eBay suffered breaches that exposed millions of user passwords. Often these passwords were stored hashed, but if they were weak, hackers cracked them by the thousands. Data dumps of breached passwords became a goldmine for criminals – if “alice123” was Alice’s password at LinkedIn, there’s a good chance it’s also her Gmail password. This phenomenon of credential stuffing took off, where attackers use leaked credentials to break into other sites. By the 2010s, massive compilations of billions of stolen logins were circulating in the dark corners of the internet. Studies have found an alarming proportion of users still pick common passwords or only slightly tweak the same one everywhere, making the attackers’ job easier.

Phishing: Meanwhile, why bother cracking a password at all if you can just ask the user for it? That’s the premise of phishing. From the mid-1990s onward, phishing emails and fake login pages have tricked people into typing their secrets into the wrong place. Even a strong password won’t save you if you unwittingly hand it to a scammer imitating your bank or IT department. Phishing became one of the most successful tactics for account takeover. Verizon’s data breach reports have estimated that the majority of hacking-related breaches involve stolen credentials or phishing. In one dramatic example, Google in 2018 revealed that after it required all 85,000 of its employees to use physical security keys, none of them fell for phishing – a testament to how much passwords were the weak link before.

Faced with these challenges, the tech world has increasingly been saying: enough! In fact, “the password is dead” became a refrain. Microsoft’s Bill Gates famously declared passwords would become obsolete way back in 2004. Yet here we are in 2025, and most of us are still typing passwords daily. What gives? Essentially, replacing such a simple, universal login method has been hard. But now, at long last, viable alternatives are here – and they’re already in your pocket and devices.

The Shift Toward Passwordless Authentication

After decades of password pain, the industry is moving toward passwordless authentication – methods that let you log in without ever memorizing or typing a traditional password. What’s driving this shift? In short, better security and better usability.

• Security Drivers: Passwordless methods promise to eliminate the biggest threats to passwords. No password means nothing for hackers to steal in a data breach and no secret for phishers to trick you into revealing. As Microsoft Security VP Vasu Jakkal put it, “Nobody likes passwords. They’re inconvenient. They’re a prime target for attacks”. Eliminating passwords can close the door on phishing and stop the domino effect of one breached account leading to many. It’s telling that an alliance of tech giants declared in 2022 that traditional passwords were one of the biggest security problems on the web, and even two-factor codes were only an incremental fix. The strongest argument for going passwordless is simply to protect users – our human habits (reuse, weak choices, falling for scams) have proven too hard to fix, so the solution is to remove the temptation entirely.
• Usability Drivers: The user experience with passwords has become a nightmare. Folks have to manage upwards of a hundred accounts in some cases. We’ve all felt the friction of creating a “strong” password under annoying requirements, or the frustration of forgetting a password and going through password reset hoops. Login issues lead to abandoned shopping carts and support calls at work. In other words, passwords are a UX headache. A login that recognizes you with a fingerprint or a one-tap approval is far smoother. Companies know that if authentication is easier, users are less likely to drop off and more likely to secure their accounts (since there’s no temptation to reuse or write things down). Going passwordless can mean both fewer breaches and fewer “I forgot my password” support tickets – a win-win.

How Passwordless Login Works (Key Technologies)

So, what exactly does “passwordless” look like in practice? Several technologies and approaches are converging to finally let us ditch the old shared secret. Here are the main players in the passwordless revolution:

• Biometrics (Fingerprint and Face ID): Modern devices can use your unique biology as the key. Apple’s Touch ID (introduced on iPhone in 2013) and Face ID (2017) brought fingerprint and face recognition to the masses. Similarly, Windows Hello (launched with Windows 10 in 2015) lets users log in with a face scan or fingerprint on their PCs. Biometrics are fast and convenient – no one forgets their thumb at home – and they verify you (the real user) in a way a password can’t. Importantly, good biometric systems never transmit your actual fingerprint or face image; they store a secure template and perform the match locally. For example, Microsoft stressed that Windows Hello uses an infrared camera or reader to verify you and then sends only an encrypted confirmation, never your raw biometric data. Biometrics do have a downside: you can’t change your fingerprint if it were compromised. But in passwordless systems, the fingerprint/face is usually just used to unlock something else (a key on the device), not directly as the secret. Overall, device biometrics have made logging in far more user-friendly – just a touch or a glance – and now serve as a critical component of passwordless auth.
• One-Time Codes and Magic Links: A simpler form of going passwordless that many users have seen is the “magic link” or one-time code login. Instead of asking for a password, a website emails you a special login link (or texts you a short numeric code) that only works once. Clicking the link or entering the code proves you have access to your email/phone (which itself is protected by a password or PIN). This approach has been popular for consumer apps because it’s easy: “click the link we sent you to log in”. No password to remember – the “something you know” is replaced by “something you have” (your email account or phone). Magic links and OTP codes are not phishing-proof (you could still be tricked into giving a code to an attacker), but they do eliminate the need for yet another password. Many sites use them as an option for people who don’t want to create a password. They improve convenience, though at scale they can be a bit slower (you have to go check your email each time) and they still ultimately rely on the security of your email or phone. Think of them as a half-step toward a fully passwordless future – user-friendly, but not the most advanced in security.‍
• Hardware Tokens (Security Keys): For high-security scenarios, physical security keys have been a game changer. These are small USB or NFC devices (like YubiKeys) that perform cryptographic challenges to log you in. If you’ve ever used two-factor authentication and had to plug in or tap a key, you’ve seen this in action. With protocols like FIDO U2F and FIDO2, hardware tokens can act as a replacement for passwords, not just a second factor. When you register a security key with a service, it stores a unique cryptographic public key with that service. To log in, you press your key to prove you have the matching private key. There’s no password to transmit or steal – the secret never leaves the key device. Google was one of the pioneers here: after it gave security keys to all employees, phishing attempts dropped to zero because an attacker would need the physical key itself to get in. Hardware tokens provide extremely strong security (they’re highly phishing-resistant by design), but they were long seen as too cumbersome for everyday users – who wants to carry a special key for every account? Today, however, many laptops and phones have built-in secure elements that function like security keys, which leads us to the latest innovation: passkeys.‍
• Passkeys and WebAuthn (Public-Key Crypto Made Easy): The real breakthrough driving “passwordless” forward is the adoption of the WebAuthn standard (Web Authentication) and its use of public-key cryptography for website logins. In plain language, WebAuthn lets your device create a pair of keys – one public, one private – to identify you to a service. The public key goes to the server and isn’t a secret; the private key stays with you (on your phone or computer) and is unlocked only when you authenticate (with a PIN, fingerprint, etc.). When you log in, you prove you have the private key (through a cryptographic signature), and the server verifies it with the public key. No shared password is ever exchanged. This means there’s nothing useful for hackers to steal from a server – a thief with a leaked public key still can’t pretend to be you. And if a phisher tricks you to a fake website, your device will refuse to sign the login because the domain won’t match the one your credential is registered to, stopping the attack cold.
  “Passkeys” are essentially WebAuthn credentials with some added convenience. Big tech companies (through the FIDO Alliance) agreed on a common approach to make these work across platforms. A passkey can sync through the cloud to your devices, so if you create one on your iPhone, your Mac or iPad can use it too. Apple, Google, and Microsoft announced in May 2022 a joint commitment to support this standard for seamless logins everywhere. On Apple devices, for example, creating a passkey for an app or website will save a FIDO credential to your iCloud Keychain (end-to-end encrypted) and make it available on all your Apple gear. Next time you need to log in, you just authenticate with Touch ID or Face ID, and you’re in – no password required. Google and Microsoft are doing the same with their ecosystems. Passkeys build on the security keys concept but hide the complexity: your phone or laptop is the security key. From the user’s perspective, it feels like magic: “sign in with your fingerprint, and you’re done.” In practice it’s a cryptographic exchange happening behind the scenes, with robust protection against phishing and reuse. As Google describes it, passkeys let you sign in the same way you unlock your device, and are both easier and more secure than passwords – no more relying on pet names or “password123,” and no more falling for phishing sites.

Tech Giants Embrace Passwordless

The move toward passwordless isn’t just theoretical – it’s happening right now, led by the biggest names in tech:

• Microsoft: Microsoft has been pushing “a world without passwords” for years. Windows Hello brought biometric logins to PCs in 2015, and Microsoft accounts have supported apps and security keys as alternatives for some time. In 2021, Microsoft went further and allowed any user to remove the password from their Microsoft account entirely, switching to methods like Windows Hello, a phone authentication app, or hardware key for sign-in. According to Microsoft, by 2021 almost all its own employees (nearly 100%) had gone passwordless, and over 200 million people were already using passwordless login options like Hello or Authenticator instead of passwords. This was a major milestone proving that large-scale passwordless login is feasible. It’s not just for Windows either – Microsoft’s cloud services and Office 365 support passwordless via FIDO2 security keys and Microsoft’s Authenticator app approvals. Their message is clear: the password’s days are numbered.
• Apple: Apple helped acclimate consumers to biometric unlocking (with Touch ID and Face ID), and now it’s leveraging that familiarity to replace passwords. In 2022, Apple introduced Passkeys in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura as a user-friendly implementation of WebAuthn/FIDO credentials. If you have an iPhone, you might have seen the prompt to “Create a passkey” when signing up for certain apps. That one tap generates a unique cryptographic key pair, stored securely in your iCloud Keychain and usable across all your Apple devices. The next time you visit that app or site, it will ask you to verify with Face ID or Touch ID, then transparently use your passkey to log you in. No password to type or steal – authentication is tied to your device and biometrics. Apple has even built support to use passkeys on non-Apple devices: for instance, you can log into a website on a Windows PC by scanning a QR code with your iPhone, which then uses your passkey to confirm you. By leaning on their tightly integrated hardware/software ecosystem, Apple is making passwordless login feel almost effortless for users. It’s a big step toward mainstream adoption, given the millions of people in Apple’s ecosystem.

• Google: Given its scale, Google’s adoption of passwordless tech is a huge catalyst. Google was an early member of the FIDO Alliance and added support for physical security keys to Google Accounts years ago. In 2023, Google rolled out passkey support to all consumer Google Accounts (Gmail, Drive, etc.) as an option for login. You can now go to your Google account settings and create a passkey, which might prompt you to use your phone’s fingerprint or face unlock. Once that’s set up, logging into Google on a new device can be as simple as approving a prompt on your phone – no password needed. Google touts this as the “beginning of the end” for passwords, noting that passkeys are resistant to phishing and much easier than juggling verification codes. They’ve also enabled syncing of passkeys via the Chrome browser’s password manager (which many Android users use), so your Android phone and Chrome can fill passkeys just like they do passwords. In short, Google is baking passwordless capabilities right into the products billions of people use every day. And it’s not just personal accounts – Google is extending passkeys to business users in Google Workspace as well.
• And Beyond: Virtually every major tech player is on board. The FIDO Alliance counts hundreds of companies working on standards-based passwordless methods. Other examples include: WebAuthn in Browsers – all modern web browsers (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox) support WebAuthn APIs, so any website can leverage hardware keys or device credentials for login. Major Websites and Services – companies like PayPal, Shopify, Yahoo! Japan, and DocuSign have started offering passkeys as a login option, often with an experience smoother than passwords. And in the enterprise world, single sign-on providers (Okta, Duo, Auth0, etc.) now integrate passwordless tech to help workplaces increase security while reducing login friction for employees.

The Road Ahead: Will Passwords Become Obsolete?

It’s World Password Day 2025, and for the first time it feels plausible to imagine a future without passwords. The momentum is real: a broad industry coalition has given us the tools to kill the password, and companies are actually using them. Does that mean passwords will disappear overnight? Not quite. There are still challenges to overcome:

• Ecosystem Adoption: Passwordless login only works if the apps and websites you use support it. We’re in a transition period where not every service offers passkeys or token login yet. Many will need time (and prodding) to implement the new tech. Apple has spent a lot of effort encouraging developers to adopt passkeys, and Google and Microsoft are doing the same. As more success stories emerge, pressure will mount on laggards to get onboard. But for now, you likely still have some accounts that only accept the old username/password combo, so you can’t delete all your passwords just yet.
• User Awareness and Migration: Millions of people are so used to passwords that changing habits will take time. Some might be wary: “If I don’t have a password, what happens if I lose my device?” (Answer: you use your backup device or recovery method – part of the passkey design is to handle that safely). Tech companies need to educate users that these new methods are not only secure but actually simpler. Features like allowing you to share a passkey with a trusted family member (for shared accounts) or easily add a new device to your passkey list are emerging to smooth the experience. Over the next few years, expect a big push in user education. It will be a bit of a mindset shift to trust that logging in can be as easy as tapping your fingerprint – human psychology doesn’t change overnight.‍
• Legacy Systems: Some environments (older hardware, legacy enterprise software) may not support the newest authentication methods. There will likely linger scenarios where a password fallback is needed, at least for a while. Companies aiming for true passwordless will have to ensure there are alternative secure ways to recover accounts and handle edge cases. For example, if all your logins are passwordless and your phone is your key, what if your phone dies and you’re away from your backup? Solutions involve having multiple passkey devices, or trusted contacts, etc., but it adds a bit of complexity in planning.

Despite these hurdles, the trend is clear. The tech has finally caught up to the dream of eliminating passwords. As one FIDO Alliance official said, the goal is “simpler, stronger authentication” that’s ubiquitous across devices – and we’re well on our way. Companies are eager because it improves security across the board and even saves costs (less fraud, fewer resets). Users, once they try it, often find passwordless login more convenient – it feels modern, like the way login always should have been.

On this World Password Day, it’s worth reflecting how far we’ve come: from Roman sentries and the first clunky computer passwords in the 60s, all the way to Face ID and passkeys in 2025. The humble password had an incredible run and won’t disappear overnight, but its role is finally diminishing. The rise of passwordless authentication means that someday in the not-too-distant future, we might celebrate World Password Day by happily not having to use any passwords at all!