Passwords are all well and good, but they are complicated to create and easy to forget, and not only that but they tend to be fairly easy to crack. This is why the hunt continues to find a really suitable replacement which can deliver the knock out blow to all those nasty hackers and let us keep our secrets in peace.

SlickLogin is a new security system which turns your phone into a sort of token, so that when the phone is placed near the computer it unlocks it without the need of a password or PIN. The clever trick is achieved by the computer playing an inaudible set of tones which the human ear can’t hear but your phone can.

Once the system verifies that it is your phone next to the computer, the server unlocks it and you can access your machine. You can’t just record the audio and replay it, or record someone else’s signal and unlock their account because their phone has all the credentials stored on it, and each audio signal relates to a particular session.

The whole thing has been designed by a team from the Israeli Defense Forces, so chances are it’s pretty secure, although of course, if someone steals your phone, then you’re going to be out of luck. But that’s probably the least of your problems. The service is in closed beta and apparently the company is working on some significant deals which should be announced soon. [Via]