survey of almost 1,700 enterprise technology end-users found that
28% of respondents had to deal with more than 13 passwords at work,
while 30% managed between six and 12 passwords.
Nine out 10 respondents reported feeling frustrated when
trying to manage their passwords.
The situation has been made more difficult by firms trying to
strengthen their password policies. According to Andrew Braunberg,
senior analyst at Current Analysis, this has “resulted in
additional burdens for the end user – such as requiring that
employees change passwords more frequently, or leverage very
difficult to remember passwords”.
"Paradoxically, password policies that are not user-friendly
spur risky behaviour that can undermine security. These policies
also raise IT help desk costs as companies allocate more resources
to password resets," he warned.
According to the survey, 25% of respondents tried to cope with
their multiple passwords by putting them on a spreadsheet or other
document stored on the PC. Twenty-two percent of respondents
recorded their passwords on a PDA or handheld device, while 15%
kept a paper list somewhere at work.
Eighty-two percent of respondents used IT help desk staff when
they forgot or lost their passwords, costing employers in both help
desk and employee-waiting time.
