Myris scans your eye to unlock your password vault

A new gadget soon to be hitting the consumer market means you won't even need to remember a single password. All you have to do is scan your eye.

There are a number of password vaults on the market that aim to keep your passwords secure, locked behind one single master password that can let you into all your accounts and profiles. While this is a good way to keep your information safe, you could, potentially, still be caught out by a keylogger.

But what if your accounts could only be unlocked by using a physical part of your body? The iris of your eye is unique to you, and it's by scanning your eye that the company EyeLock aims to keep your passwords secure. Its mouse-sized device, Myris, can perform a quick eye-scan to verify your identity before letting you in.

Connecting to your computer via USB, it scans your eye at a rate of 20 frames per second, looking at over 240 points on the iris to generate a 2048-bit signature unique to each user. To get into your accounts, which are linked via an application, you need to physically scan your eye — photos and videos will not work. And, although there's a chance you can get a false match, it's very slim — just one in 2.25 trillion. According to EyeLock, only DNA is more accurate.

This means that you could set highly complicated passwords for your internet banking, VPNs, email, shopping websites and social networks and not have to worry about remembering them.

"Usernames and passwords will soon be a thing of the past, and EyeLock's introduction of Myris brings us one step closer," said EyeLock chief marketing officer Anthony Antolino. "People are required to remember dozens of passwords in an effort to secure their data, while organisations and individuals are in a constant struggle to keep their digital, social and financial transactions safe from compromise, breach and theft. Until service providers take the step to eliminate usernames and passwords, Myris enables users to set passwords as complex as they'd like and forget them once linked to the device."

Myris will be made available globally later this year, although a definite release date and pricing are yet to be announced.