Knowledge workers think they have good password habits, but do they?

Unless you’re one of those people who can build a mind palace(Opens in a new window), you can’t hide a multitude of passwords in an ever-expanding series of rooms in your head. So you may have devised a system for creating passwords or, worse, bought one of these books(Opens in a new window) which is very clearly labeled “Password” on the cover.

These are obviously not tactics recommended by password manager vendor LastPass. But the company was curious about the password habits of knowledge workers(Opens in a new window)it therefore surveyed 3,750 professionals in the US, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and India and published the results in its report on the psychology of passwords.(Opens in a new window).

Survey respondents believed they had good password habits, with 73% saying theirs were strong and secure. But while 89% said they knew using the same password or a variation is a risk, 62% use the same password or a variation, 33% use stronger passwords for work than they do for their own accounts, and only 50% change their passwords. after a breach.

Password strength depends on account type for most respondents, however, with 69% saying they create stronger passwords for financial accounts, 52% for email accounts and 32% for social media accounts.

Of course, LastPass recommends using a password manager. But 44% of survey respondents trust only themselves to manage their passwords.

What is a password manager and why do I need one?