With this password, I thee wed…
Over half of spouses share passwords but friends and children are trusted the least

Bracknell, 15 April 2016… It’s just as well that divorce levels are at their lowest in 40 years as over half of people (52%) share passwords with their spouse or partner. This is according to a poll of IT professionals by Centrify, the leader in securing enterprise identities against cyberthreats.

The same poll found that friends and children are trusted the least with more people prepared to hand a password over to a colleague (20 percent) or other family member (20 percent) than to friends (4 percent) or children (4 percent).

Considering that a quarter of people (26 percent) have more than 30 passwords, but that most people (33 percent) can only remember between two and five, keeping track of passwords is a challenge.

“Sharing passwords may be tempting, but who knows what the future may bring,” warns Barry Scott, chief technology officer, EMEA, Centrify. “The people who know us the best are also the ones best placed to guess our passwords, from our favourite football teams to our childrens’ or pets’ names or the schools we attended. For those living with someone who may be lacking in imagination, there’s even a probability that the dreaded ‘PASSWORD’ password is in use somewhere.”

“Passwords alone are no longer fit for purpose which is why the industry is starting to shift to multi-factor authentication, such as combining a password with biometrics. This means that while your partner may gaze into your eyes to capture your heart, they won’t be able to get your log-in details.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Centrify polled IT professionals at Cloud Expo Europe, London, 13 April 2016.

For more information, please contact:
Paula Averley, Origin Comms, t. 020 3814 2941, m. 07766 257776, e. paula@origincomms.com

About Centrify

Centrify is the leader in securing enterprise identities against cyberthreats that target today’s hybrid IT environment of cloud, mobile and on-premises. The Centrify Identity Platform protects against the leading point of attack used in data breaches ― compromised credentials — by securing an enterprise’s internal and external users as well as its privileged accounts. Centrify delivers stronger security, continuous compliance and enhanced user productivity through single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, mobile and Mac management, privileged access security and session monitoring. Centrify is trusted by over 5000 customers, including more than half of the Fortune 50.