Microsoft has implemented a passwordless option for its users who constantly forget their passwords and to prevent cyberattacks. On September 15, 2021, the company announced that it will offer a “passwordless account” for all users of several popular services such as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft OneDrive in the coming weeks. Initially, the account was only available to corporate accounts. According to Vasu Jakkal, the company’s corporate vice president of security, users can now remove the password of their Microsoft accounts. Microsoft (MSFT) will allow users to sign in to their services with either the company’s Authenticator app, which generates a unique numbered login code every few seconds, or with Windows Hello, which lets users log in using facial recognition, a fingerprint or a unique pin. In addition, Microsoft users can also register a phone number to which Microsoft sends a verification code.

As more employees adopt a work-from-home setting, hackers could find more opportunities to break into a company’s system. Microsoft has reported that 579 password attacks occur every second, resulting in up to 18 billion attacks a year. Based on cybersecurity experts, the choice of most users to re-use the same password across accounts is an easy point of entry for hackers. Almost all of Microsoft’s own employees now log into their corporate accounts without passwords, Jakkal said.