Password Fatigue

November 9, 2022

Emily Moore

Are you a victim of Password Fatigue?

With the recent rise in data breaches being reported it is only natural that we want to ensure our online accounts are secure, both business and private. Each platform has its own set of password rules along with a request that passwords be unique.

But how are we meant to remember all these unique passwords?

If you find yourself overwhelmed and struggling to remember them all, then you may be experiencing what is known as “Password Fatigue”. This ultimately leads to password simplification and reuse, with many people reusing an average of five passwords across business and personal accounts. The problem here is that simple and frequently repeated passwords pose a security risk.

So, what can we do to overcome Password Fatigue and increase online account security?

1. Password Managers
   Creates a secure store of passwords and automatically fills them at login windows. Not having to remember every single password offers the possibility of more complicated and longer passwords, such as a computer-generated string of random characters.
   
   
2. Multi-factor Authentication
   This can be as simple as having passwords saved and a push notification to accept or deny the login on the user’s phone. Even if password fatigue has compromised passwords, the hacker would need to have the user’s phone to access the account.
   
   
3. Single Sign-on Solutions
   These applications, such as PassCamp or JumpCloud, save and store all passwords in a secure encrypted file that can only be accessed by a single master password. They can generate and save random, complicated passwords for each online account and will automatically fill them when a user visits a website.
   
   

These tools can help to significantly reduce the password burden, reducing the time spent remembering, imputing, and resetting passwords.