Medium.com ditches passwords to increase security
Remembering all of the passwords required to gain access to all of your online accounts is a pain. You could opt to use a password manager, or you might decide to use the same password for everything. But Blogging platform Medium.com has another option -- just don't use one!
The site has been anti-password for some time; users log into their accounts using an existing Twitter or Facebook account. For people who are not social network users, however, there's a new option. Working in a similar way to the 'I've forgotten my password' system used by many sites, Medium allows users to log in using nothing but their email address -- and says the system is more secure than regular passwords.
Ditching passwords as well as Twitter and Facebook-based logins might seem as though it would open up accounts to unauthorized access, but Medium says that this is far from being the case. Passwords can be very easily compromised, but by emailing time-limited login links to users, Medium thinks it has come up with a solution.
When the time comes to log in, users can request that an email be sent to them. The email contains a unique link that when clicked, logs the users into his or her account. If the link is not clicked within 15 minutes, it expires and each link can only be used once. This means that unless someone else has access to your email account, only you will be able to see the link, and only you will be able to log in.
As well as increasing security, the new login option means that those who shun social networks can use the site, as can those who are unable to use the likes of Twitter and Facebook due to local censorship.
For now the option can be used on the Medium website as well and in the iOS app. Android users will have to wait for an app update to be released -- and this should be happening soon.
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