Secret Double Octopus Survey Examines User Preferences for Password Alternatives

Press release Secret double octopus

Tel Aviv, Israel- October 30, 2017The results of a survey conducted by Secret Double Octopus, the pioneer of password-free, keyless authentication technology, found that among employees of medium (1000-5000) and large (5000+) enterprises, 81% of respondents perceive Face ID as trustworthy and 91% think it will be easy to use. Currently, Touch ID is the leading alternative to passwords with respondents ranking it first in all 3 survey parameters: ease of use, trust, and preference.

The survey, which focused on preferred authentication methods and password usage, have been included in a report titled, “Facing a Future without Passwords”. In addition to the findings about Face ID, the survey also demonstrates that passwords are burdensome and less secure.

The survey also underscores the toll passwords have taken on employees in enterprise environments both in terms of security and user experience. Touch ID and Face ID are both preferred to passwords as a way to authenticate users in a work environment. 73% of employees surveyed said they prefer Face ID to passwords if given the choice, with 70% categorizing Face ID as ‘extremely or very trustworthy’ – these results from a technology they have never actually used.

“We initiated this survey because we wanted to look past the hype to really understand what people think about the authentication methods they are required to navigate daily – anything from passwords, tokens, and SMS to Touch ID. We also wanted to know what people are expecting from new authentication alternatives, specifically Face ID,” said Raz Rafaeli, CEO of  Secret Double Octopus. “The results demonstrate the need for organizations to seriously consider the impact Face ID will have on their security environment and explore how they can leverage the technology both as a second-factor authentication measure, as well as a way to replace passwords altogether because that is where we are headed.”

Additional survey highlights include:

  • 84% of enterprise employees need to replace their password every 4 months or less.
  • On the topic of password security, 23% of employees surveyed say they rely on paper notes to remember their passwords.
  • 14% have shared their work passwords with colleagues or other people.
  • 21% of employees use work-related passwords for non-work related online services.
  • 5% of employees admit they have entered their work-related passwords into fraudulent forms/web pages.

Even with the millions of dollars being spent annually by enterprises on password management and 91% of companies having a policy for password strength (longer passwords and frequent replacements, for example), the survey found that many employees are not adhering to even the most basic of protections, and are exposing themselves and their organizations to increased chances for malicious activity.

The survey was conducted among 522 respondents, aged 25-64, employees in medium and large enterprises (1000+ employees).

The full text of this newly published research can be viewed here.

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About Secret Double Octopus

Secret Double Octopus has developed the world’s only password-free, keyless authentication technology to protect identity and data across cloud, mobile and IoT environments. Based on Secret Sharing algorithms, originally developed to protect nuclear launch codes, Secret Double Octopus’ technology prevents cyber attackers from accessing enough critical information to be useful for attacks, eliminating brute force, man-in-the-middle, PKI manipulation, key theft and certificate authority weaknesses. For more information, please visit https://doubleoctopus.com/