Internally, around 90% of the employees working at Microsoft are using a passwordless login solution. Recently, Microsoft revealed that the number of individuals using passwordless authentication solution has now increased to 150 million. During the Microsoft Ignite conference held back in November, the tech giant initially reported that the number of people using passwordless logins was 100 million.
Microsoft published a blog post and stated that the number of people using passwordless solutions reported by the company includes the users of the company’s online services including GitHub, Xbox, Azure, and Microsoft Office.
Around 55% of the people prefer using a method to protect their accounts that do not involve the use of passwords and a consumer survey by Visa revealed that 67% Americans tried biometric verification and preferred it to password authentication.
The number also includes Microsoft users who utilize Windows Hello (facial and fingerprint recognition) to gain access to Azure AD (Azure Active Directory) systems. The users employing FIDO2-based security keys and the official Microsoft Authenticator app to logon to different online accounts without using a password are also included in these 150 million people.
‘One of the current goals of the company is to encourage and support users to use either MFA (multi-factor authentication) or passwordless authentications to protect and secure their online accounts,’ Microsoft stated.
Microsoft highlighted the enhanced security functions of multi-factor authentications or passwordless accounts when they are compared with those accounts that are only secured by passwords. Most users tend to use accounts secured only by a password exposing their accounts to hackers for easy cyber-attacks.
The tech giant stated last year that multi-factor authentication blocks 99.9% of all ATO (account takeover) attacks which displays the effectiveness of the MFAs. Microsoft also said that it is so rare that a hacker bypasses multi-factor authentication that the company does not even possess useful statistics on these types of cyber-attacks.
Besides providing improved account security, passwordless authentication solutions often also provide an economic benefit, Redmond says. According to Redmond, the financial benefit passwordless authentication network comes with is in the form of decreased tech support expenses as the company’s employees can’t forget a password and will have to reset it if they don’t have one.
Joy Chik, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Identity, stated that internally, majority of Microsoft’s employees has already started using passwordless authentication systems to access their accounts which means that the adoption of passwordless authentication solutions is on the rise within the company.
According to Joy Chik, the company’s IT team has already switched to passwordless login solutions and currently, ninety percent of the employees at Microsoft login to their accounts without using a password. Using passwordless logins have also reduced Microsoft’s tech support cost. Chik stated that the hard and soft tech support expenses of the company are reduced by 87% since the employees switched to using passwordless authentications systems to access their accounts.
Read next: Google Updates Its Android Authenticator App For The First Time Since 2017, And The Update Allows Users To Transfer Account Between Devices
Microsoft published a blog post and stated that the number of people using passwordless solutions reported by the company includes the users of the company’s online services including GitHub, Xbox, Azure, and Microsoft Office.
Around 55% of the people prefer using a method to protect their accounts that do not involve the use of passwords and a consumer survey by Visa revealed that 67% Americans tried biometric verification and preferred it to password authentication.
The number also includes Microsoft users who utilize Windows Hello (facial and fingerprint recognition) to gain access to Azure AD (Azure Active Directory) systems. The users employing FIDO2-based security keys and the official Microsoft Authenticator app to logon to different online accounts without using a password are also included in these 150 million people.
‘One of the current goals of the company is to encourage and support users to use either MFA (multi-factor authentication) or passwordless authentications to protect and secure their online accounts,’ Microsoft stated.
Microsoft highlighted the enhanced security functions of multi-factor authentications or passwordless accounts when they are compared with those accounts that are only secured by passwords. Most users tend to use accounts secured only by a password exposing their accounts to hackers for easy cyber-attacks.
The tech giant stated last year that multi-factor authentication blocks 99.9% of all ATO (account takeover) attacks which displays the effectiveness of the MFAs. Microsoft also said that it is so rare that a hacker bypasses multi-factor authentication that the company does not even possess useful statistics on these types of cyber-attacks.
- Also read: How Gaming Cheats Lead To Malware
Besides providing improved account security, passwordless authentication solutions often also provide an economic benefit, Redmond says. According to Redmond, the financial benefit passwordless authentication network comes with is in the form of decreased tech support expenses as the company’s employees can’t forget a password and will have to reset it if they don’t have one.
Joy Chik, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Identity, stated that internally, majority of Microsoft’s employees has already started using passwordless authentication systems to access their accounts which means that the adoption of passwordless authentication solutions is on the rise within the company.
According to Joy Chik, the company’s IT team has already switched to passwordless login solutions and currently, ninety percent of the employees at Microsoft login to their accounts without using a password. Using passwordless logins have also reduced Microsoft’s tech support cost. Chik stated that the hard and soft tech support expenses of the company are reduced by 87% since the employees switched to using passwordless authentications systems to access their accounts.
Read next: Google Updates Its Android Authenticator App For The First Time Since 2017, And The Update Allows Users To Transfer Account Between Devices
