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Password overload creating problems
12 September, 2006
By Andrew Horan
RSA Security has announced the results of their second
password management survey. One quarter of the respondents
reported password- related breaches at one time or
another. It also found that most end users are managing
more passwords than they can easily remember. According
to the survey, 18 per cent of end users manage more
than 15 passwords but only five per cent can remember
all of them easily.
In addition to all of this, multiple passwords also
create a burden on IT Security efforts. 26 per cent
of the respondents reported a security breach that
occurred due to a compromised password.
Surprisingly, respondents from the US were the least
aware out of all the participants with only 14 per
cent of the professionals polled knowing of security
breaches that occurred due to compromised passwords.
"While companies pour huge amounts of time and
money into protecting sensitive information, business
passwords remain one of the weakest links in the security
chain, in large part due to the sheer number of passwords
that end users are required to manage," said
John Worrall, senior vice president of marketing at
RSA Security said in a release.
"Little has changed since 2005 -- end users
are still managing an overwhelming number of passwords,
and this is resulting in behaviors which open the
door to security breaches and potential compliance
issues."
The survey polled respondents with jobs related to
corporate password management on a number of issues
related to compliance and overall IT security. 57
per cent said their company's desire to avoid end-user
frustration prevents the organization from requiring
frequent password changes and/or strong password policies.
Managing passport-related issues also significantly
increases an IT help desk's work load by 26 to 50
per cent. This is more prevalent for larger organizations
than it is for small companies.
While 56 per cent of the respondents said that a
master password would be extremely helpful, 86 per
cent said that an added layer of protection is also
extremely helpful. This is a significant increase
from 2005, when 55 percent of respondents said an
added layer of protection would be very important.
For more on the results of the survey, head to http://www.rsasecurity.com/
passwords.
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