What's your password personality?

Nearly half (49 percent) of US employees create their own tricks and shortcuts for managing logins, leaving business systems open to attack.

A new report from password manager company Dashlane, created in conjunction with Datalands and based on a survey of 1,000 people, identifies four different employee personas, and the potential barriers these employees may cause to security culture.

The four password personalities are:

• The Desensitized: these employees live mostly online, but don't think hard about technology. While they are extremely forgetful, they also get easily frustrated when trying to get things done online which means they often reuse passwords or use weak passwords.
• The Out of Touch: are not online as much, with a higher preference for doing things in person. Out-of-touch employees don't frequently share online logins with anyone, however, they are more likely to write down passwords and least likely to lock their devices with a code.
• The On Top of It: this group is intentional and proactive about improving and elevating their personal and professional lives. They prefer to do everything online and strive for efficiency wherever possible, however, they'll frequently use less secure methods like reusing passwords for multiple accounts or storing them in a browser.
• The Above it All: early adopters of a digital life and proud of their ability to manage technical challenges, these employees are likely to be the least overwhelmed by keeping track of online accounts, and the least likely to have experienced fraud or a personal data leak.

"No matter where the new 'office' is for your employees, it's clear that futureproofing your workplace security now calls for new tactics, and organizations are reprioritizing their cybersecurity budgets," says JD Sherman, CEO of Dashlane. "We're dedicated to helping businesses and consumers be proactive about eliminating their online security risks and provide them with tools to make that happen without upending their lives."

Among other findings, 63 percent of respondents say they're proud of their ability to remember things, which doesn't quite square with the 69 percent who retrieve or reset their account passwords at least monthly. In addition 35 percent say they feel overwhelmed by keeping track of all their account information and logins.

You can get the full report from the Dashlane site.

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