Eyeball scanners and heart monitors: the top emerging security solutions of 2015

Two-factor minus one

At South by Southwest 2015, Yahoo announced that it wants to kill the password this year for its sites.

The internet company discovered that Yahoo users are frequently forgetting their login credentials, and to make its content both secure and seamless, Yahoo will be ditching the old password in favor of a phone-based security method.

Soon, when Yahoo users visit a Yahoo site - like Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance, and Flickr - they'll be able to register a mobile phone number. The next time a log-on is required, Yahoo will text a four-digit code to the person's phone, and then you can log in using the PIN.

It's similar to two-factor authentication on Gmail.

With two-factor, Google requires you to login with a password. After that, the second factor makes things more secure by requiring you to validate a code that was sent to your mobile device.

• Read our editorial to find out what the future holds for traditional passwords