Skip to main content

Eurosmart warning: 'Don't choose personal password 123456'

Setting the scene for this year’s World Card Summit, CARTES Network Exhibition Director Isabelle Alfano stated that the changes brought about by smart cards “could be more significant than those brought about by the Internet revolution”.
November 20, 2013 Read time: 1 min
‘Significant change’: Isabelle Alfano. Right: Oyvind Rastad: ‘replace passwords’
Setting the scene for this year’s World Card Summit, CARTES Network Exhibition Director Isabelle Alfano stated that the changes brought about by smart cards “could be more significant than those brought about by the Internet revolution”.

However, the challenges faced in bringing security to a very fast-growing sector were highlighted by Eurosmart’s Chairman Oyvind Rastad: the most commonly used personal password in the world is 123456, he said, with “more security-conscious individuals” opting for 12345678.

The solution, Rastad continued, is to replace passwords with fully end-to-end security solutions. The magnitude of the need is underscored by the fact that 7.7 billion smart secure shipments are expected in 2014. Rastad’s comments set the scene for an enlivened debate over Opportunities and Threats for the Secure Digital Industry.

Alex Green, Senior Research Director at IHS, led a panel including Morpho’s Phillipe d’Andrea, Giesecke & Devrient’s Axel Deininger, Infineon Technologies’  Stephan Hofschen, Oberthur Technologies’ Didier Lamouche, NXP Semiconductors’ Steve Owen and Gemalto’s Olivier Piou.

Related Content

  • Avoiding a tangle
    September 4, 2018
    The ITS industry will get into a ‘terrific mess’ if it doesn’t sort out the question of interoperability, says Georg Kapsch. He talks to Alan Dron about data, connectivity – and why governments should stay out of technology issues Governments should set a regulatory framework to help shape the direction of road technologies - but then stand aside and allow industry to create the necessary technologies, according to a European pioneer in the field. Georg Kapsch, CEO of Kapsch Group and Kapsch TrafficCom,
  • Commercial telematics shipments to exceed 6.4 million by 2016
    May 18, 2012
    A new report from ABI Research predicts that global shipments of commercial telematics equipment will increase from 1.94 million in 2011 to 6.43 million in 2016. While North America is still the leading market, Asia-Pacific is set for strong growth driven by economic expansion, a booming automotive industry, and urgent requirements to use increasingly scarce resources more efficiently.
  • NXP's contactless technology drives smart mobility in Barcelona
    March 5, 2015
    The Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) has chosen Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors’ MIFARE DESFire for their new mobility card, T-Mobilitat. The new T-Mobilitat card will provide over 5.7 million inhabitants of the city with easy access to public transportation via NXP's MIFARE DESFire contactless solutions, delivering smart mobility services to more than 70 public transport operators in and around the Spanish city. The new T-Mobilitat card will eventually replace current magnetic machiner
  • Technology and finance shapes up to make MaaS happen
    June 7, 2017
    The technology and finance aspects needed for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to become widely adopted are taking shape as Geoff Hadwick and Colin Sowman hear. Sampo Hietanen, CEO of MaaS Global and ‘father’ of MaaS, started his address to ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference in London by saying: “All of the problems that can be solved by a company or group of companies have already been solved, and now we are left with the big ones such as housing, transport and health. He called MaaS the “Netfli