Security, just like in real-life, is one the most important aspects for our smartphones and tablets. We’ve seen several different variations as to how our devices can be more secure. From the standard randomly generated or manually input digits to fingerprint scanners. Google is looking to top that and allow consumers to enjoy their daily lives without constantly inputting these passwords but instead have your device responsible on locking your smartphone through simple constant security checks. If everything works out in Google’s favor, we may see these security options become available in the near future.
ATAP is a specially placed advanced research unit within Google. During this year’s Google I/O developer conference, ATAP’s chief Regina Dugan talked about the future of smartphone and tablet security. There has been an on-going research and development process to create a system that would allow smartphones to track your typing patterns among other signals that would suggest you were using the device rather than a stranger. By going through these checks, periodically your handset will be free of passwords and PINs. Although, getting this system perfected has been a struggle with four-digit pins being far more secure when the project was just getting started.
This new system has vastly changed and improved. For starters, Google had taken up work with several universities and experts from institutions. The result of working on the program for just 90-days has taken the system and made it over 10x more secure than fingerprint scanners. While this system certainly seems impressive, it’s likely still far from being ready for consumer use, though when Google finds it fit for the general public we’ll likely see this included in a big firmware update. Even if this technology makes into future devices, there may very well still be a need or a desire of many users to stick with much more traditional methods for logging into their accounts, like Google’s two-factor authentication. Should users be interested in having this technology at their fingertips though, ATAP describes the process of setting it up as being one of a relatively simple nature, and they’re hopeful they can bring it to users sometime in the near future.