Original Research

Assessment of current practices in creating and using passwords as a control mechanism for information access

P. L. Wessels, L. P. Steenkamp
South African Journal of Information Management | Vol 9, No 2 | a27 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v9i2.27 | © 2007 P. L. Wessels, L. P. Steenkamp | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 03 November 2007 | Published: 03 November 2007

About the author(s)

P. L. Wessels, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
L. P. Steenkamp, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

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Abstract

One of the critical issues in managing information within an organization is to ensure that proper controls exist and are applied in allowing people access to information. Passwords are used extensively as the main control mechanism to identify users wanting access to systems,
applications, data files, network servers or personal information. In this article, the issues involved in selecting and using passwords are discussed and the current practices employed by users in creating and storing passwords to gain access to sensitive information are
assessed. The results of this survey conclude that information managers cannot rely only on users to employ proper password control in order to protect sensitive information. 

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Crossref Citations

1. Investigating the possibility to use differentiated authentication based on risk profiling to secure online banking
Martin Butler, Rika Butler
Information & Computer Security  vol: 23  issue: 4  first page: 421  year: 2015  
doi: 10.1108/ICS-11-2014-0074