does this leave individuals open to fraudulent activity and exposes the businesses they work for, but it also highlights the value we place on different passwords." A fault with the default password Another password-related study out this week reveals that although users generally want stricter security policies, they rarely bothered changing the default passwords, contrary to common sense. Less than 30 per cent of the 460 respondents to a survey ran by password recovery business ElcomSoft claimed they have never forgotten a password. The remainder admitted forgetting login credential either because of infrequent use (28 per cent), not writing their password down (16 per cent) or because the password had slipped their mind while they were off work on a holiday (13 per cent). A quarter of those quizzed said they changed their passwords regularly, while a further 25 per cent change their passwords infrequently. The remaining half change their passwords either sporadically or almost never. The poll revealed a serious issue with default passwords - whether automatically generated or assigned by hand. Around a quarter (28 per cent) of respondents always change the default password, while more than 50 per cent would usually keep the assigned one. ElcomSoft counsels against this lax attitude. "Using default passwords is dangerous, even though they might be complex, simply because you can easily find lists of passwords in the internet," explained ElcomSoft spokeswoman Olga Koksharova. "A really strong password should be not only long and complex, it should be unique." Most respondents to