Passwords: Memorability More Important Than Security

from the password-hell dept

The current password system is clearly a problem. Security experts will tell you that your password should be a random mix of letters and numbers, and that it should change fairly often. That sounds great in theory, but is extraordinarily difficult to do in practice - especially when you have 50 to 100 different passwords to keep track of. It seems that most people value memorability over security when it comes to choosing passwords - and thus pick easy to remember (meaning, easy to guess) passwords. They're also prone to writing them down in really obvious places. None of this is all that surprising or new. The security experts still freak out and tell everyone they're at risk, but that's not going to change how people act. Most people, even if they are at risk, never experience any (known) security breach. It's a good enough system for them - even if it is somewhat risky.

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