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Giving Up Passwords For Chocolate

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the my-password-is-hershey dept.

RonnyJ writes "The BBC is reporting that, according to a recent survey, more than 70% of people would willingly give up their computer password in exchange for as little as a bar of chocolate. Over a third of the people surveyed even gave out their password without having to be bribed, and most indicated that they were fed up with having to use passwords."

5 of 710 comments (clear)

  1. A big problem... by Lord_Frederick · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...at many of the places I've worked at is that the users have as many as a dozen passwords to remember for different systems, and each one expires at a different time and has different rules for how long and complex it has to be.

    Most of them keep their passwords written down on a sheet of paper right on their desk.

  2. Re:Passwords and memory by mrwonka · · Score: 5, Informative

    try passwordsafe

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/

  3. This is old news... by lewko · · Score: 3, Informative
    I suspect this was a journalist looking for a creative spin on an old story. The European Infosecurity 2003 conference came to the same conclusion when it discovered workers were prepared to give away their passwords for a cheap pen.

    It's still interesting to see that in two years of cybercrime and media frenzies that nothing has really changed...

    --
    Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
  4. Re:This doesn't surprise me at all... by GigsVT · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hah, no, it means they are keeping your plain text password in a database somewhere, instead of only keeping an unreversible hash like they should.

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  5. He's not joking, I've seen this done before ... by NZheretic · · Score: 3, Informative
    You have got to catch the person at just the right time when they are falling asleep and it has to be an action that the person often performs in a repetitive manner. Extreme tiredness and a little alcohol about 20min before hand helps

    I have seen it done on three occasions, each time someone who has just fallen asleep ( cat/power napped ) at their desk.