The days of using your favorite color or your pet’s name as your password are long gone – in fact, they never should have been a thing in the first place (in our humble opinion). In today’s world, we’re experiencing a different phenomenon called “login fatigue.”
A recent report by 1Password analyzed how using passwords in most organizations is frustrating, complicated, and disruptive to workflow. Current processes often risk essential information and data when employees experience login fatigue.
What is login fatigue?
Since we’ve moved away from “1234” and “red” as our passwords, a new conundrum has formed. Employees are facing major fatigue. It’s a combination of the sheer number of passwords and the constant need to verify your identity with multi-factor authentication. On that point, research tells us that a whopping 57% of individuals are annoyed with knowledge-based authentication (i.e., two-factor or MFA).
What did the 1Password report find?
The report from 1Password had several significant findings:
- 43% of employees admit to sharing logins, delegating tasks to others, and even avoiding their work altogether to eliminate the hassle of logging in.
- 26% frequently give up attempting to complete a task because of the hassle of logging in.
- 38% of respondents have delegated, procrastinated, or skipped setting up security applications because the steps to log in were too difficult.
Why Passwords Matter
We’ve long known the risks of improperly managed passwords. We recently talked about a common password-stealing malware that targets Android devices, and we also know that reused passwords are a security risk for organizations. If this is true, then how do we mitigate password risk while solving login fatigue?
Great question. Proper password management uses several helpful tools.
First, make sure your organization is using a quality password manager. This will help organize passwords and better streamline the login process for employees.
Second, eliminate shared passwords organization-wide. If it’s not happening anywhere in your organization, it won’t be tempting for employees to do it.
Third, always use multi-factor authentication. Even though it can cause employee fatigue, make it your company culture that MFA is used on all accounts for all employees. The security implications are too great to operate otherwise.
Lastly, educate, educate, educate. Compliance will increase if your employees understand the purpose behind proper password management and its implications for the greater organization.
IT Professionals for Your Business
If your organization is experiencing login fatigue and you’re looking for ways to streamline your password management, PK Tech can help. From offering recommendations on the best password managers to educating your workforce, our team of IT professionals is here to help. Get in touch with us today.
