Biggest US carriers team up to offer new login solution called Project Verify

Since the dawn of the internet, passwords have been an unavoidable part of our digital lives. The more services we use online, the more passwords we have to remember. Luckily, our browsers are now doing most of that work, and for the rest, there are dedicated apps that manage your usernames and passwords. The latest addition to the world of login managers is called Project Verify. What makes it more intriguing than similar apps is that it has a pretty significant backing: Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint have collaborated to form Mobile Authentication Taskforce, the team that’s making the new app.

Project Verify is not your conventional password manager, it’s a completely separate way to login to apps. Similar to how you can sign in to various websites using your Facebook/Google account, Verify will be another option users can choose, instead of creating a new account and having to remember yet another password. The app developers promise it will be more secure because of the added verification information that comes from the collaboration with the carriers: Phone number, SIM details, Account tenure and others. This will also allow it to be used as a Second Factor Authentication method, so instead of having to enter a code you’ve received in a text or e-mail, you can use Verify.

While users often make their accounts more vulnerable by choosing easier to remember passwords, they are also often hesitant to trust all their passwords with a single app, fearing that a security breach there will cause more problems than the added convenience solves. The developers of Project Verify appear to have taken the right measures when it comes to security, but no software is perfect.

Another factor that might raise concerns for some users is the same thing that adds credibility to the app: the support by carriers. Customers sometimes feel that the carriers already have too much information about their habits, not only online, but in the real world as well, thanks to location services. Voluntarily giving them access to information about which apps you login to and when, might be a bit too much. Sensing that this might be the case, Project Verify points out that it will offer “Transparent Data Management” that will give users control over what information is used and how.

Since this project is still new, there’s no information yet about apps that will support it, but we expect the big names behind it to pull some strings and have it integrated in popular apps and services.