Following an exclusive interview, Bill Burr, the author of an influential guide to computer passwords has now acknowledged that several of the tips he gave have come unstuck in practise.
Mr Burr’s original advice was distributed by the US government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. It has since been amended several times, with the most recent edition being released in June. David Emm, Principal Research at Kaspersky Lab commented below.
David Emm, Principal Research at Kaspersky Lab:
“Where humans are concerned, things aren’t straightforward – not everything in the computer world is binary. There will always be scope for different approaches, but certain things – e.g. frequent changes of passwords – can definitely have an adverse effect on security. It comes down to human psychology: if something is hard to do – in this case, having to come up with memorable passwords at frequent intervals – they will circumvent the process by choosing weak, easy-to-remember, passwords. The key is to blend easy with secure – as with a password manager.”
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