Would halacha trust a password?

Question

Almost all security systems in the modern world rely on a shared secret (password) system of some kind. The premise is that no-one other than the account holder knows the secret, so anyone who knows the secret must be the account holder!

Is there a basis in Halacha for using a piece of secret information to establish credibility (נאמנות)? I am looking for answers based on the rules of נאמנות only which do not rely on extra agreements between the parties.

Here are a few example cases where this would make a difference:

A Jewish bank offering online money transfer to Jewish customers. What if the customer claims he never signed on and requested the money transfer?
Sending online payments to a Jewish vendor. What if the vendor claims you sent it to the wrong place?
Trusting a Psak from an authority which is already נאמן. For example, if I receive an e-mail from a someone claiming to be R' Chaim Kanievsky שליט''א (or his agent) and I want to verify it. (You can use secure hashes to verify identity, they work like passwords).
... lots more

@DoubleAA The same kinds of cases its used for in the modern world. For example, if I have a bank account at a Jewish bank and they need to verify that I sent an instruction for them to make a payment, can they rely on a password? — Ploni Almoni, Mar 25 '15 at 18:54
Why would you think they can't? The customer agreed to those terms of service presumably — Double AA, Mar 25 '15 at 18:55
@DoubleAA I'm asking if based on pure halacha without outside agreements (like terms of service) you could rely on a password. Could it create נאמנות the same way עדות or חזקה creates נאמנות. — Ploni Almoni, Mar 25 '15 at 18:59
Ploni, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks for bringing your question here! As @DoubleAA indicates, it will be a much stronger question if you [edit] in some suggestions for realms of Halacha or particular cases in which password-based trust may matter. Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features. — Isaac Moses, Mar 25 '15 at 19:00
Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/37913 and http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/36924 — msh210, Mar 25 '15 at 19:05
I think that your first two examples have more basic issues: Who says that Halacha grants any status, outside whatever rules everyone involved consents to, to online funds transfers or payments? — Isaac Moses, Mar 25 '15 at 19:21
@IsaacMoses It certainly does. If I send a שליח with עדים that I told him to take a פקדון, the מופקד (the bank) would return it. Later on if I complained, the bank would only need to bring the עדים to בית דין and I would lose. — Ploni Almoni, Mar 25 '15 at 19:24
Ploni, could you please explain what you mean? I don't see how describing a case with messengers and witnesses demonstrates that Halacha says anything about electronic funds transfers. — Isaac Moses, Mar 25 '15 at 19:27
@IsaacMoses When I make a deposit at a bank, the bank becomes a shomer of that money. They cannot transfer the money to a third party (electronic or otherwise) without my consent. I am allowed to provide that consent via a shliach (messenger) as long as there are eidim (witnesses) that I actually appointed the shliach. He is neeman (trusted) based on the testimony of the eidim. — Ploni Almoni, Mar 25 '15 at 19:36
@Ypnypn Can you detail how it would be used in that case? Who would provide the password to whom, and to what end? I don't understand how a password would be used in a Gittin case — Double AA, Mar 25 '15 at 19:53
@msh210 Wow that is interesting. Do you know of any mefarshim on that pasuk dealing w/ the questions in dinim? — Ploni Almoni, Mar 26 '15 at 01:24

Would halacha trust a password?

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