"False Sense of Safety Undermines Good Password Hygiene"

LastPass published the findings of its fifth annual Psychology of Password report, which revealed that, despite increased cybersecurity education, password hygiene has not improved. Regardless of generational differences between Boomers, Millennials, and Generation Z, the research reveals a false sense of password security based on current behaviors. Furthermore, LastPass discovered that while 65 percent of all respondents have received some form of cybersecurity education through school, work, social media, books, or courses via Coursera or edX, 62 percent almost always or mostly use the same or a variation of a password. The survey, which examined the password security behaviors of 3,750 professionals from seven countries, gathered information about respondents' mindsets and behaviors related to online security. The findings revealed a clear disconnect between their high confidence in password management and their risky behavior. While most professionals polled expressed confidence in their current password management, this does not translate to safer online behavior and can create a harmful false sense of security. Regarding password management, Generation Z is confident, but they are also the worst offenders of poor password hygiene. As the generation that has spent most of their lives online, Generation Z (1997-2012) believes their password methods are "very safe." When compared to other generations, they are the most likely to create stronger passwords for social media and entertainment accounts. However, while Generation Z is more likely to recognize that using the same or similar password for multiple logins is risky, they use a variation of a single password 69 percent of the time, compared to 66 percent of Millennials (1981-1996). Generation Z is the generation most likely to use memorization to keep track of their passwords (51 percent), with Boomers (1946 - 1964) the least likely to do so (38 percent). This article continues to discuss key findings from LastPass' fifth annual Psychology of Password report.

Help Net Security reports "False Sense of Safety Undermines Good Password Hygiene"