An Investigative Study: Consumers Password Choices on an E-Commerce Site

Abstract

AbstractGood passwords are essential to the security of any e-commerce site. Unfortunately, consumers generally have the responsibility of creating their own passwords and often do so without guidance from the web site or system administrator. One thing that is well known about passwords is that consumers do not create long or complicated passwords because they cannot remember them. Through an empirical analysis, this paper examines whether the passwords created by individuals on an e-commerce site fall into a predictable category and if individuals use either positive or negative password practices. Additionally, this paper addresses the issue of gender in relationship to password choice. The results of this study will show the actual password practices from an e-commerce site currently in use. Results indicate that males sampled had slightly more secure passwords than females in the sample.