Symbols in passwords – we all use the same ones without realising

Watching a TED talk recently, an analysis of of symbols in passwords revealed that the large majority of us choose the same symbol over and over again.

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The requirement to include a symbol in a password is meant to increase the strength and security of a users password. But if you’re pretty sure that someone will include a “!” particularly at the end of their ‘normal’ password, then it hasn’t achieved its aim.

Individually, we think we’re being smart. We don’t realise that a exclamation mark is the obvious option for many of us, or if you can use a number instead, the number 1 is pretty high up on there.

This started me off in a search of cognitive psychology, to learn more about common user behaviour, but i’m sure i’ll be writing more about that in the near future.