Commerce Department proposes single login for all your accounts

Written by |
Advertisement

Tired of having too many usernames and passwords for different sites? The Commerce Department is proposing a single method of entry to all your accounts across the web.

I was recently at a financial organization’s website where I go very infrequently. Well, I got the error message that either my name or password was wrong. So I requested a new username and then I realized I couldn’t figure out my password. I then had to do the whole routine with all the security questions.

Many of us follow the rule of simplicity and only have 1 password for multiple sites. Bad idea. Clever criminals can easily breach just 1 of your accounts and then use that password to gain access to all of your other accounts.  

My executive producer Christa had a brush with financial disaster years ago when her and her husband’s brokerage account was compromised and almost wiped out. She only thwarted the crime because she happened to log in to her account before the money was wired out of the country. After that episode, she was offered a little security token that goes into a USB and generates a dynamic code on the fly for added security.

Bloomberg reports the Commerce Department is considering coming up with a voluntary standard where you can log in when you boot up your computer or smart phone using a digital token, a smartcard or your fingerprint. You’ll then stay logged in and can have access to any website that participates in the voluntary program without having to log in again.  

Advertisement
  • Show Comments Hide Comments