Email passwords: pushing on a latched door

Abstract

The popularity of the Internet grew from the very basic human need to communicate. In the early days, email was envisaged as a way for developers to ‘chat’, but it quickly mushroomed to include sending documents, photographs and other information quickly and easily. So, while our current use of the Internet includes informational websites and social media, email was there first. Indeed, before the launch of the iPhone heralded the move to smartphones and the development of applications, the sending and receiving of text was the primary function of hand-held devices. However, recent incidents of identity theft, impersonation and data leakage where email access is believed to have played a significant part mean that the time has come to rethink the use of email.