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How you type may be your best online ID

Cybersecurity systems can use your typing style to identify you online.

PORTLAND, Ore — Every time you strike the keys on your computer keyboard, think about this: Cybersecurity systems have the technology in place to use our individual typing styles to verify our identity online.

In other words, the way we type can be used as a form of digital ID. In fact, some companies are doing it right now and they’re doing it without us even knowing it.

But before you hit the panic button and start thinking how this can work against you, let’s talk about how this can actually work for you.

"For example, your bank may be using it to make sure that you are really you, and not someone else," said Archer News Editor-in-Chief Kerry Tomlinson. "Maybe someone else has (figured out) your password, but the way they’re typing it is funky.  It’s not the way you type it."

Tomlinson goes on to explain what exactly these cybersecurity systems are looking for when it comes to our individual keyboard typing styles. She said how hard you press, how quickly you press, and even your typing "agility" can be used to make a digital fingerprint of you.

This technology is still a work in progress, but it's certainly possible that it becomes even more advanced in the future.

"Research is looking at what (your) typing says about your mental state," Tomlinson said.

So ... Are you happy? Are you sad? Even if you try to hide your emotions, the answers to those questions may soon be revealed simply by the way you type.

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