Kill the Password?

Mat Honan, the Wired editor that got uber-hacked this summer, wrote an article that says no matter how complex or unique, your passwords can no longer protect you. Your email. Your bank account. Your address and credit card number. Photos of your kids or, worse, of yourself, naked. The precise location where you're sitting right now as you read these words. Since the dawn of the information age, we've bought into the idea that a password, so long as it's elaborate enough, is an adequate means of protecting all this precious data. But in 2012 that's a fallacy, a fantasy, an outdated sales pitch. And anyone who still mouths it is a sucker—or someone who takes you for one.