- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
US tech titans look to ditch passwords
Apple, Google and Microsoft said Thursday they are looking to get rid of passwords and replace them with a more secure way to access accounts or devices.
The US tech titans jointly announced support for a common standard that will let people sign in by unlocking their mobile phones, say, with fingerprint or face recognition.
"The complete shift to a passwordless world will begin with consumers making it a natural part of their lives," said Microsoft vice president Alex Simons.
"By working together as a community across platforms, we can at last achieve this vision and make significant progress toward eliminating passwords."
Reliance on passwords alone is decried as a major security flaw on the internet, with people keeping them overly simple or using the same one repeatedly to make it easier to manage many accounts.
Adopting standards created by the FIDO Alliance and the Word Wide Web Consortium will let websites and device makers build secure, passwordless options into their offerings, the groups said in a release.
Using secure keys instead of passwords would stymy phishing scams that trick people into disclosing log-in credentials and hackers that steal such data.
"Today is an important milestone in the security journey to encourage built-in security best practices and help us move beyond passwords," US cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency director Jen Easterly said.
Support for password-free log-ins will be woven into Android and Chrome software over the course of the coming year, said Google product manager and FIDO Alliance president Sampath Srinivas.
Apple and Microsoft announced plans to do likewise with their software.
"This will simplify sign-ins across devices, websites, and applications no matter the platform - without the need for a single password," Srinivas said in a blog post.
"When you sign into a website or app on your phone, you will simply unlock your phone."
Mobile phones will store a FIDO credential referred to as a "passkey" that will be used to unlock online accounts, Srinivas explained.
"To sign into a website on your computer, you’ll just need your phone nearby and you’ll simply be prompted to unlock it for access," Srinivas said.
Eliminating passwords was billed as more secure than two-factor authentication that involves getting one-time passcodes texted or emailed as secondary confirmation when logging into sites or services.
L.Durand--AMWN