A survey carried out by an IT security firm at the recent Infosecurity Europe show of over 300 IT people has shown that human behaviour when it comes to passwords has failed to progress over nearly two decades. Some two-thirds, 67 per cent of users report they still keep passwords on Post-It Notes.
Nearly all of the respondents (97pc) said they know that passwords make their systems vulnerable and pose a serious risk when accessing web applications. And yet we still use weak, static passwords for business critical applications, despite 66pc of IT professionals saying that the average hacker could break a typical user’s password within minutes.
Thomas Capola, CEO of Sestus, said: “This survey highlights the real disconnect users have when it comes to their password security. Users understand that they are vulnerable because of easy access to weak passwords, yet they continue to fail to protect those passwords; and this is something that hasn’t changed in over 15 years. All the training and user education in the world doesn’t seem to deter people from using static passwords and keeping them stored in obvious places around the office.”
Some 32pc of the survey respondents like the idea of introducing biometrics as an alternative security measure – such as iris or finger scanning and 92pc would buy multi-factor authentication as a preferred method, if the price was right. Some 60pc of users believe that the days of password-only authentication have ended, with almost half opting for two or more levels of authentication.
Capola added: “What Sestus has done is to recognise that in order to eradicate the password problem completely, there needs to be a better option – one that is simple for users and one they can trust to give them the most secure web experience. Multi-factor authentication with Virtual Token does just that by removing the password insecurity factor and making sure the session is secure right from the start through device and browser authentication.” Visit www.Sestus.com.
