Perhaps unsurprisingly, the internet login system is essentially as old as the internet itself. In the 1960s and 1970s, as the first computer networks took shape, so too did the need for user authentication. ARPANET, the predecessor to today’s internet, implemented the first formal login systems when it began operations in 1969. These pioneering systems required users to input a username and password to access network resources, something billions of people would do trillions of times in the years since.
With the dawn of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, web-based logins quickly became a staple, providing a gateway to personalized digital experiences. Yet, these early forays into user authentication were often marred by shockingly lax security standards. Many developers at the time saw little issue in storing passwords as plain text or—astonishingly—embedding them directly within HTML code.
As the internet matured, so too did our approach to login security. The introduction of server-side scripting languages like PHP in the mid-1990s allowed for more secure password storage and verification. Encryption and hashing algorithms became standard practice, and two-factor authentication emerged as an additional layer of security.
Despite two-factor authentication and password managers, and despite the leaps and bounds made in other aspects of our digital lives, the basic username-password combo has stuck around like an unwanted party guest.
The Scale of the Login Challenge
Enter blockchain — or not. Because despite blockchain making leaps and bounds in industries from healthcare to logistics, logins are one area where distributed ledger technology (DLT) hasn’t proven useful.
Ok, so let’s talk about why. For context, LastPass conducted a survey that stated that the “average user has ~70 passwords to manage, and that users could log in 20-30 times per day.” NordPass, in a similar survey stated that “average users spend about 15 minutes of each day logging in and out of accounts.” At 30 seconds to 1 minute per login, that means NordPass’s survey would imply roughly 15-30 logins per day.
To be conservative, let’s assume the lowest number here — 15 logins per day. The world has a population of 8 billion people, of which 85% have access to smartphones, which could
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Author: John Camardo
