Pen mightier than the password

A recent survey by Rainbow Technologies Inc. indicates that the use of insecure passwords can be costly – and potentially risky – for corporate data.

A summary of the findings shows that:

• 55 per cent of end users reported that they write passwords down at least once;

• nine per cent of all users write every password down;

• 40 per cent of users share passwords, contributing to insecurity in virtual private networks (VPN) and Secure Sockets Layer VPN environments;

• the average user manages more than five passwords and over 24 per cent of users have at least eight user names and passwords on their system at any one time;

• 80 per cent of respondents indicated that their organizations have implemented password-strengthening techniques (using “nonwords” for passwords, or combinations of numbers and letters) and that this actually increases the likelihood that the password is written down or forgotten;

• 51 per cent of all users require IT help to access applications because they forgot the password.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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