Password rage is reportedly affecting a third of UK IT security professionals, with password frustration resulting in crying, screaming and swearing.
Centrify’s snapshot of IT professionals at this year’s Infosecurity Europe found that 25% forgot their password at least once a day, with a forgetful 5% admitting they forget all the time. Only 22% were confident in asserting that they never forget their security credentials.
The survey findings indicate workplace password frustrations are leading to one in six screaming or shouting in the office, while one in seven channel their anger through moaning to work colleagues. The survey also detailed that frustrations have also lead to crying, running off and slamming the door, swearing and even banging their head on the desk.
2% apparently give up completely and head to the pub to drown their password sorrows.
"We’ve all heard of road rage and air rage, but now there’s a new one on the block – password rage," explains Barry Scott, CTO EMEA at Centrify. "As if we don’t have enough frustrations in our lives, passwords are an added irritant, but also an essential part of what we need in order to access online accounts and applications both at work and in our personal lives.
"Our frustrations are clear, but the real problems arise when we start to adopt poor password practices because we cannot remember them, like using the same ones again and again, or using easy-to-remember ones like ‘password’!"
Looking at surveys past, the cause of this password rage lies in the fact that we have so many passwords to remember. Last year, Centrify found that a quarter claimed they have more than 21 active online profiles, and nearly half (42 per cent) create at least one new online account profile every week – more than 50 a year.
In fact, 14 per cent believe they will have 100+ passwords to deal with in the next five years.
