Psychology of Passwords
An interesting article regarding the psychology of passwords has been published. Kim-Phuong Vu is an expert in a speciality of engineering that deals with designing for human use, with a special interest in proactive password protection. Her academic observations duplicate what many security experts in the field see on a daily basis.
Even though the computer and the password are new, similar memory problems have been studied for thousands of years. “The techniques we have learned to increase our memory are being applied in a whole new context,†said Vu. “Many users have half a dozen passwords to remember. That’s why the most common password is ‘password.’ The usual solution is to write it down. But how secure is that? Practicality wins. The probability of remembering six passwords is not that great. Half the people who say they never write down their passwords need to have their passwords reset because of forgetting.â€
Overall, it is a very interesting and worthwhile read. The article makes no attempt to solve the problem, only recounting why the average human finds it difficult to remember the myriad of passwords that they are required to for daily computer use.