projectabacus
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Android will have password-free sign-ins by the end of 2016
Back in 2015, Google teased the prospect of Project Abacus, a sign-in approach for Android that ditches passwords in favor of a trust system that uses patterns (such as location, typing speed and voice) to verify your identity. But when is it coming out? Sooner than you might think, actually. In a low-key presentation at I/O 2016, Google revealed that Abacus should be in developers' hands by the end of the year. Multiple "very large financial institutions" will start trying it out in June, taking a big step forward from the university tests that began last year.
Google's creepy plan to kill the password
In the grab bag of Google/Alphabet's big projects for 2016 is Project Abacus. It's basically the company's plot to kill the password in cold blood, by replacing it with smartphone user authentication via an uncrackable collection of biometric readings. Abacus would lock or unlock devices and apps based on a cumulative "trust score" -- as your phone continually monitors and recognizes your location patterns, voice and speech patterns, how you walk and type, and your face (among other things). Like many things Google, it sounds miraculous. Your phone will just know it's you. And infosec pundits who believe we're stuck in password-hell Groundhog Day because "regular" people won't do security if it's inconvenient, will rejoice.
