Enhancing Password Security: Analyzing Password Management Practices Among IT Students

• Main Authors: Kollar, Anita Mihalovicsne, Katona, Jozsef
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Complexity theory; Continuing education; Correlation; cybersecurity; Education; educational interventions; Engineering profession; IT students; password complexity; Password management; password reuse; Passwords; Power engineering; Protection; Security; Surveys
• ISSN: 2831-4506
• DOI: 10.1109/CANDO-EPE65072.2024.10772755

Today, with the digital world in its full swing, strong password management is key to protecting sensitive information from both internal and external threats. The current research explores the passwords managing behavior of the IT students at the University of Dunaujvaros. A survey made in May 2024 questioned 68 students, 59 males and 9 females, about behaviors such as using passwords with complexity, not repeating them for multiple accounts or machines, changing them regularly, and which applications they use for password management. The findings have depicted that, as a whole, students appear to be moderately sensitive about the password security instructions. Nonetheless, most continue to indulge in unsafe practices, including easily remembered or weak passwords and infrequent password changes. Furthermore, approximately half of the responders use password management applications, indicating room for significant improvement in the future. The results suggest that intervention and special education measures should be taken to enhance the practice of password security among future IT experts. This research has good potential to contribute toward strategies designed for people behaving safely in password management, and hence promote a secure digital environment.