Centrify Presents Survey Findings: Passwords Costing Thousands in Lost Productivity

The Identity and Access Management solutions provider Centrify has a new survey out that highlights the drawbacks of the most ubiquitous form of identity credential: the password.

Here are some key survey findings:

1. Companies waste over $400 dollars per year per employee on lost productivity stemming from password management issues.

 2. Rampant poor password management and other bad security habits are putting companies at risk for data breach, including 49% of US respondents who use their personal device for business purposes.

3. 37% of US respondents have created more than 50 new account profiles, with “new” user names and passwords (how much do you want to bet they are the same or similar to all their other accounts’ log in credentials?) over the course of a year, or about 1 per week.

4. Two thirds of respondents needing to put in up to 10 different user names and passwords a day.

5. Respondents claimed that forgetting a username/password combo for an account they need to access is more annoying than losing car keys or cell phone die, and a full quarter thought that managing passwords was more irritating than waiting in line at the DMV.

6. Only 12% of US respondents thought their passwords were “very secure.” Correspondingly, over four fifths of respondents fear identity theft, with about a third thinking they’ve been a victim of it at some point.

The results point to the need for a new kind of identity management solution that goes beyond the simple username and password concept. Conveniently enough, Centrify provides solutions that can do just that. Of course, Centrify isn’t the only Identity and Access Management game in town. Solutions Review tracks a number of different top IAM providers. If you are in the market, also feel free to check out our Identity and Access Management Buyers Guide. It’s a great way to get started if you’re looking for a new IAM solution.

The survey was conducted in both the US and UK by recording the answers of 1000 people in each country to a series of questions that teased out these findings in August of 2014. You can see the survey questions, methodology, and more in depth findings by following this link.