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What Keeps People from Using Password Managers?

posted by mrpg on Friday June 18 2021, @09:00AM   
from the 00aa23e67f100945c87d19e4012f dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

WSJ: What Keeps People From Using Password Managers?

No pay wall: https://archive.is/HCtcT

Many of us are vulnerable to hackers and eager to secure our online accounts, but lots of us also refuse to use an obvious solution: password managers.

Why? Our research has found that the typical reassurances and promises about password managers just don’t work. Fortunately, our research also suggests there are strategies that can persuade people to get past the psychological barriers and keep their data safe.

[...] In a study I conducted with my Ph.D. student Norah Alkaldi, we found that the two most common methods of persuasion were ineffective in getting people to adopt password managers. The first is the “push” approach—the idea that by showing people the dangers of using simple passwords, recording passwords on their computer or using the same passwords at different sites, we would push them to adopt a safer approach. Users, we found, don’t respond to the push strategy.

[...] The other, “pull,” approach—focusing on the positives of password managers—didn’t deliver any better results.

[...] We discovered two types of “mooring factors” that keep people from changing their behavior.

[...] First, there was the effort required to enter all your passwords into the password manager.

[...] People also fear they will lose all their passwords if they forget their master password.

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Original Submission

• Re:pen and paper to the rescue Re:pen and paper to the rescue (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @07:47PM (3 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @07:47PM (#1147106)

  The downside to writing passwords on paper is you can't cut and paste them into password prompts. This eliminates the possibility of difficult random string passwords. Nobody has time to squint at paper and flawlessly retype a collection of gibberish.

  Parent

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• Re:pen and paper to the rescue Re:pen and paper to the rescue (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @09:49PM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @09:49PM (#1147145)

  Really, I hope you're not putting your passwords into paste buffers.

  Parent

  • Re:pen and paper to the rescue (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 19 2021, @06:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 19 2021, @06:47AM (#1147253)

    Really, you should not even touch the keyboard. I saw on Jason Bourne they got the password from how worn out some of the keys were. Noobs.

    Parent

  • Re:pen and paper to the rescue (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 19 2021, @06:55AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 19 2021, @06:55AM (#1147255)

    If something is reading your paste buffers, your computer is already hopelessly compromised. You already lost.

    Parent