Login with QR Codes
In most cases, a username and password are required for authentication on systems or networks. As smartphones or tablets are often used by several users in an industrial environment, for example if they are used by the next shift, they have to log out and in again regularly.
This has several disadvantages:
- Users can forget passwords, causing them to lose time until the password is reset.
- Passwords have to be changed regularly due to company guidelines, which regularly causes problems with logging in.
- It takes time and is inconvenient to log in regularly by hand with username and password.
So that users no longer have to enter their user name, email or password manually, these can be encoded in a QR code and read out by a scan and written into the login page.
The login via QR code can be implemented in TheFlex with local scripts. It can be configured so that when a specific login page (e.g. from Microsoft or SAP) is opened, a dialog is displayed in which the user is prompted to scan a QR code.
The local script can now read the content of the QR code, parse the user name, email, password and other stored information and write it to any fields on the login page. Clicking the login button and other functions can also be automated so that users only have to scan the QR code and are then automatically logged in.
The authentication data is hard-coded and unencrypted stored in the QR code. There are ways to make this more secure, but this scenario should only be used with devices that do not leave internal production, logistics or the site and are not publicly accessible.
To solve the disadvantages mentioned above, we recommend an authentication via SmartCard instead. This is not only more secure, but also a standardized login procedure.