Password Habits of Security Literate Individuals

Abstract

In the age of the Internet, the common user has accounts on multiple websites. Basic account authentication has a username and a password. While username may be common knowledge, passwords are secret, and it is important to use good password habits. Security literate internet users, i.e, students, faculty, professionals in the IT industry are expected to know better than to use bad password habits. But that may not always be the case. This thesis aims to test the hypothesis that security literate internet users use bad password habits despite knowing better, and then proceeds to understand the underlying factors behind these habits through a survey. The survey consisted of questions about basic password habits. The responses were analyzed for better insights