US military explores biometric replacement for passwords

The US military hopes recording human behavior can replace the traditional password.

The US military is investing millions of dollars in a biometric identification system which could replace the traditional password for web users.

As reported by Sky News, the US military has signed a multimillion-dollar deal for researchers at West Point, the home of the agency's military academy. The team is working on what are called "cognitive fingerprints," which do not use physical characteristics to identify someone, but behavioral traits.

West Point hopes to develop cognitive fingerprint algorithms which learn and recognize patterns of behavior based on how someone uses a mobile device. Whether this relates to how someone swipes their smartphone screen or moves a cursor, patterns are identified and applied to a user in order to verify who they are.