A new report from LastPass developer LogMeIn suggests that the vast majority of businesses are planning to move away from passwords within the next few years. The From Passwords to Passwordless survey specifically found that 92 percent of respondents believe that their organization will transition to some form of passwordless authentication in the future.
Those findings reflect the fact that more and more organizations are starting to recognize the limitations of password-based authentication. Ninety-five percent of the respondents were aware of the security risks associated with weak and reused passwords. Meanwhile, 85 percent of IT professionals would like to reduce the number of passwords in their organization, especially since the amount of time they spend managing passwords has gone up 25 percent over 2019.
Rank and file employees found passwords just as inconvenient, albeit for slightly different reasons. According to the survey, employees became frustrated when they had to remember multiple passwords, type in complex passwords, or change their passwords regularly. All three practices are recommended to maximize the efficacy of passwords.
The adoption of passwordless authentication technology is expected to strengthen security and lower password-related risk, while simultaneously reducing the amount of cost and time needed for password maintenance. It is also expected to make security more convenient in a remote work environment in which employees need to gain access to work materials when they are not at the office.
“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 LogMeIn CISO Gerald Beuchelt. “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 changing environment.”
Despite the benefits, nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of IT professionals believe that employees will resist passwordless technologies, if only because they are more familiar (and hence more comfortable) with the use of passwords. Data storage regulations and cost are some of the other potential obstacles to passwordless adoption. As a result, the majority (85 percent) of respondents believe that passwords will not be phased out entirely.
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