Do you know how and why you forget passwords? Find out!

Do you frequently forget passwords to a baffling array of accounts and websites? Well, then you will be interested to learn that much has to do with a password's importance and how often you use it, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick-led study. Study co-author, Janne Lindqvist said, "Websites focus on telling users if their passwords are weak or strong, but they do nothing to help people remember passwords." Janne added, "Our model could be used to predict the memorability of passwords, measure whether people remember them and prompt password system designers to provide incentives for people to log in regularly. Logging in more often helps people remember password."

The study claims that the human brain naturally adapts to how much the password is needed and used. Frequently used passwords are less likely to be forgotten. "Many people struggle with passwords because you need a lot of them nowadays. People get frustrated. Our major findings include that password forgetting aligns well with one of the psychological theories of memory and predicting forgetting of passwords," said Lindqvist.
The full findings of this study were discussed at the 27th USENIX Security Symposium, funded by the National Science Foundation.