The Problem:
Websites aren’t secure. Roboform and 1Pass are great services, but they just don’t do it for me. I think everyone is ready for two-factor authentication. All websites, all the time. But optional.
The Business
Two-factor authentication means this. I think of it as having a device in your possession with a constantly updating password. This device could be on your phone. Often it is on the keychain.
Doableness
I don’t think the business is in the two-factor authentication technology. I think it is in making the service ubiquitous. Therefore, the business needs to find someone willing to incentivize ubiquitous two-factor authentication.
EMC (the owner of RSA) and Vasco Data Security (I owned their stock once upon a time) are well-established players in the technology side of the business.
Imagine if they could have a few million new customers paying ten bucks a month. There is a lot of incentive for them to see “regular” Internet users using this two-factor authentication.
I think the answer is essentially a sales organization to bring the technology to websites big and small.
My Thoughts
It’s possible one of the two previously mentioned companies are already working on this. I only know that it isn’t everywhere, and it should be. I would pay for this service. Many people who have had an account hacked before would pay for this service.
My GoDaddy account was hacked last Friday night. All that happened was about 70 domains were forwarded to some spam work at home site. It took me about 2.5 hours start to finish to get the problem corrected. If I had two-factor authentication, it simply would not have happened.
I would finally feel good about using variations of similar passwords on every website.
(If you know that I have missed the boat on this one and this technology is coming to a website near me very soon, please message me. I would love to make that investment. Winning technology and leadership in this market will drive share prices, even for an extremely large market cap like EMC.)