Just reading this blog post from Delib on the use of passwords in online consultations that links through to a BBC post, which claims:

“According to financial advertising agency @www, the average adult needs 15 different security codes and passwords.

Almost one in ten of us has to memorise information for more than 50 accounts.

With so many numbers floating about, some people are writing down their details, or using the same words and numbers, increasing the risk of fraud.

Sixty percent of those questioned in the survey admitted using the same numbers or words for multiple accounts.”

Yesterday via a tweet from @sarahkatenorman I was reading this article on the News and Star about Cumbrian and London teenagers admitting to hacking as a hobby, which lifted my spirits imagining a new generation of coders but in fact as you read through they’re admitting to guessing other people’s passwords, naughty, naughty but as the comment from Taylor Nuttall states not something which makes them bad citizens.

In the context of the above articles it makes me wonder what the options are, I’m definitely someone who has more than 50 passwords and today I had to open a second bit.ly account for shortening the links in this post because I didn’t have time to work out which email address I’d registered it with in the first place, not an ideal situation. Are there secure options for storing our passwords online or is that an oxymoron?