2211: IEEE - Assessing Website Password Practices

Steven Furnell, IEEE senior member and professor of cybersecurity at the University of Nottingham, joins me on today's episode of The Tech Talks Daily podcast. Steven discusses the findings of his recently published paper titled 'Assessing website password practices –Unchanged after fifteen years?', which explores how leading websites guide and support users in making appropriate password choices. The paper presents the fifth in a series of studies that have been conducted every few years since 2007, with the aim of examining the level of guidance provided to users before and during the password selection process, as well as examining the nature of the passwords that users are then permitted to choose.

We also discuss the enforcement of password rules and applying various tests which determine whether the site filters out common or predictable password choices.

About Steven

Steven Furnell is a senior member of the IEEE and professor of cybersecurity at the University of Nottingham. His research includes usability of security and privacy, security management and culture, and technologies for user authentication and intrusion detection. He has authored more than 320 papers in refereed international journals and conferences, as well as books including Cybercrime: Vandalising the Information Society and Computer Insecurity: Risking the System.