The psychology of passwords: 'You won't change until you've been hacked'

We all know the risks of not changing our passwords – yet somehow it is never a priority. Louise Chunn explains why few people botherYou know you should; you know you must! But for some reason you just don ’t ever seem to get around to changing your passwords. You could simply start using apassword manager, an easy-to-access programme that safely tracks and stores your passwords, assigning different ones to each account. But do you? Surely there ’s not a part of you that actually wants to be hacked by fraudsters?Many of us struggle with tasks that need to be done, but do not appear to be urgent. “Of course I am a sucker for the urgent over the important. Everyone is,” says Margaret Heffernan, entrepreneur and author of business books Wilful Blindness and A Bigger Prize. “The important stuff is usually harder. I procrastinate too, where I feel guilty about something and prefer to ignor e it.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Psychology Source Type: news