Head-banging and door-slamming common forms of 'password rage'

Fifteen of 252 pros quizzed at Infosec admitted they have banged their head on the desk in exasperation after failing to recall a password

"Password rage" has prompted six per cent of us to bang our heads on the desk in ire and five per cent to run out of the office, slamming the door behind us.

That is according to a poll carried out at this week's Infosecurity Europe show, which quizzed 252 attendees on their ability to recall passwords in a world where the number of online accounts we all have is proliferating.

A quarter of those polled – bearing in mind these would mainly have been IT security professionals – said they forget at least one of their passwords at least once a day, with eight per cent admitting this happens five to 10 times per day. This may not be a surprise, given more than a quarter of consumers now have at least 21 active online profiles, according to research carried out last year by Centrify, the same security vendor that conducted this poll.

Some 83 of those polled – 33 per cent of the total – admitted this had driven them to "password rage", a condition that can manifest itself in various ways.

A total of 41 respondents (16 per cent) said they had screamed or shouted out loud after failing to recall a password at work.

Some six per cent had banged their head on the desk in exasperation or sworn at their device, while five per cent said the frustration stirred up from forgetting a password had led them to run off and slam the door (see full list below).

"We've all heard of road rage and air rage, but now there's a new one on the block: password rage," said Barry Scott, chief technology officer EMEA at Centrify.

"As if we don't have enough frustrations in our lives, passwords are an added irritant, but also an essential part of what we need in order to access online accounts and applications both at work and in our personal lives."

If you forget your password at work, have you ever done any of the following...

Scream/shout out loud 41 (16%)
Bang head on the desk 15 (6%)
Throw phone/tablet/laptop/computer across the room 0 (0%)
Swear at PC/mobile devices 15 (6%)
Run off and slam the door 12 (5%)
Moan at colleagues 35 (14%)
Disappear off to the pub 6 (2%)
Cry/feel like crying 68 (27%)
Delete my account 8 (3%)
I never forget my passwords 35 (14%)