Most businesses have reached the end of their tether with the humble password, which poses an unacceptable security risk in the modern climate, according to new research.
Based on a survey of IT professionals commissioned by LogMeIn, owner of popular password manager LastPass, the report states that 92 percent believe delivering a passwordless experience to end users represents the future for their organization.
Almost all (95%) of those surveyed also claimed that passwords are directly linked to holes in security posture that could be exploited to launch an attack (e.g. password reuse or weak passwords).
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The time wasted managing passwords and other login credentials also appears to be on the rise, with IT teams spending 25% more time helping employees with password-related issues than twelve months ago, according to LogMeIn.
This ongoing commitment means IT staff have less time to focus on other proactive projects (e.g. digital transformation initiatives), which could deliver tangible value in the long term.
Death of the password
While very few IT professionals (18%) expect passwords to disappear entirely, the writing has long been on the wall for the outdated account security measure.
With the arrival of biometric authentication - such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition - single-sign-on (SSO) and other advances in the field of identity management, passwords look all the more antiquated.
The ongoing conflict playing out at the heart of organizations, however, is between the IT department’s need to secure workers and employees’ preference for convenience.
The majority of IT professionals (72%), for example, said they think staff would prefer to continue using traditional passwords to avoid having to learn a new system.
The initial financial outlay was also cited by 43% of respondents as a barrier to going passwordless, while 40% said the migration process could throw up challenges.
Despite these roadblocks, however, LogMeIn is unhesitating in its calls for businesses to abandon the password, in favor of more sophisticated methods of identity verification.
“As many organizations transition to long-term remote work culture, giving your employees the tools and resources to be secure online in their personal lives as well as in the home office is more important now than ever,” said Gerald Beuchelt, CISO at LogMeIn.
“This report shows the continued challenge that organizations face with password security and the need for a passwordless authentication solution to enable both IT teams and employees to operate more efficiently and securely in this challenging environment,” he added.
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