Survey from Ping identity and Yubico highlights poor password practice

And it’s this poor practice which has 92% of UK IT decision makers concerned about passwords being stolen, according to a joint Throw Away the Key: Our Passwordless Future survey from Ping Identity, the intelligent identity solution for the enterprise, and Yubico, the leading provider of hardware authentication security keys.

But despite many individuals noting down their so-called secure logins, IT teams must still contend with 97 incidents of employees being locked-out of a device due to a forgotten password each month – and this figure jumps to 113 when talking about consumers needing to regain access to an account.

And when the password is finally restored, Ping Identity found that the word or jumble of letters will be inputted into a device 11 times a day – which amounts to nearly 39,000 times over the average working life of a Brit.

Rob Otto, EMEA CTO at Ping Identity, said: “Passwords take up unnecessary time – dwindling productivity and costing money. And regardless of how strong one thinks their password is, it can always be exploited.

“This is why a passwordless future is key. Businesses must be willing to adopt this approach, because as soon as they do, they’ll see fewer data breaches and identity fraud cases protecting their corporate reputation while improving productivity and experience for consumers and employees alike.”