What Keeps People from Using Password Managers?
Many of us are vulnerable to hackers and eager to secure our online accounts, but lots of us also refuse to use an obvious solution: password managers. Our research has found that the typical reassurances and promises about password managers just dont work. Fortunately, our research also suggests there are strategies that can persuade people to get past the psychological barriers and keep their data safe. [...] In a study I conducted with my Ph.D. student Norah Alkaldi, we found that the two most common methods of persuasion were ineffective in getting people to adopt password managers. The first is the push approachthe idea that by showing people the dangers of using simple passwords, recording passwords on their computer or using the same passwords at different sites, we would push them to adopt a safer approach. Users, we found, dont respond to the push strategy. [...] The other, pull, approachfocusing on the positives of password managersdidnt deliver any better results. [...] We discovered two types of mooring factors that keep people from changing their behavior. [...] First, there was the effort required to enter all your passwords into the password manager. [...] People also fear they will lose all their passwords if they forget their master password.