Google ring to provide one hardware password to rule them all

Hardware authentication tokens aren’t a new concept, but Google thinks it’s time to bring these devices to a much broader audience. First whispered about back in January, Google has taken to the stage at the RSA conference this week to offer some insight about what it hopes to accomplish with the Google One (password) ring. That’s not it pictured above, by the way, but hopefully it’s just as cool-looking.

Right now, Google is testing a USB dongle — which is exactly what many banks distribute to their corporate clients who need strong authentication measures to access online account services. Engineer Mayank Upadhyay notes that there’s one key difference with Google’s stick: it also features an NFC chip. That would potentially allow a users to kick start the login process by placing a phone or tablet within range.

But a small, wearable device would work, too. That’s where the ring comes in. An innocuous ring that could validate a user’s identity (assuming the companion USB token is also within range) would help solve several of today’s most serious computer security issues. If the token and ring are being used to authenticate, users wouldn’t fall into the trap of re-using the same password across dozens of sites. The hardware pair would also ensure that those ridiculous passwords we see every year on the top 100 leaked passwords list aren’t still going to be causing problems five years from now.

So what’s Google’s interest in all this? There’s got to be an angle, and it’s probably safe to assume that tight integration with Chrome (which recently received an optional strong password generator), Chrome OS,  and Android. The same hardware present in the USB dongle could be easily built in to phones, tablets, and laptops to give users a more convenient way to utilize their rings.

Google’s also got a thing for analytics, and the company would almost certainly be keeping tabs (anonymously, of course) on which services users are signing in to and what’s going on behind the scenes — like shopping or banking — to build an even better advertising profile.