IT departments and users are out of step on password security

A new survey reveals that 76 percent of employees say they experience regular password usage problems and more than a third need password-related help desk support at least once every month.

According to the study from password manager LastPass and business intelligence company Ovum nearly three-quarters say they would want to use a tool to help store and access passwords without needing to remember each one if their company offered such a solution.

Other findings show that 61 percent of IT executives rely exclusively on employee education to enforce strong passwords. Employees are therefore left on their own, with no technology in place to enforce password strength requirements. Many organizations (56 percent) also lack a single sign-on (SSO).

IT executives at four out of 10 companies surveyed still rely on entirely manual processes to manage user passwords for cloud applications too. When asked how they guard against unnecessary password sharing, 64 percent of IT executives surveyed say they have no technology in place, and only 14 percent have automated control facilities in order to know when it’s happening.

"In many cases, an organization's password management practices are overly reliant on manual processes and far too often place an excessive level of trust in employees to use safe password practices," says Matt Kaplan, GM of LastPass. "The threat posed by human behavior coupled with the absence of technology to underpin policy is leaving companies unnecessarily at risk from weak or shared passwords. Organizations need to focus on solving for both obstacles in order to significantly improve their overall security."

You can find out more in the full report which is available from the LastPass website.

Image Credit: Gunnar Pippel/Shutterstock