Exclusive
Research Report
Sponsored by Keeper Security© 2021 Keeper Security, Inc. | keeper.io/malpracticereportWORKPLACE PASSWORD MALPRACTICE REPORT

Introduction
Poor password hygiene in the workplace was a threat to organizational cybersecurity even before the COVID-19
pandemic. When COVID-19 forced organizations worldwide to rapidly deploy and secure remote workforces, teams
began connecting to organizational resources remotely, in environments that their employers did not control, manytimes using their own devices.
Respondents to the Ponemon Institute’s Cybersecurity in the Remote Work Era: A Global Risk Report, commissioned
by Keeper Security in 2020, expressed grave concerns over password security in their organizations:• 60% of respondents said their organizations experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 months.
• Over 50% of these attacks involved stolen credentials.
• The theft of IT assets caused $5 million or more in damages for 25% of businesses.
The pandemic pushed organizations to rapidly deploy a host of new technologies to keep remote employees connected,
collaborating, and working. From Zoom to Google Workspace to Slack, employees had to sign up for yet more online
accounts — and keep track of yet more passwords.
Keeper wondered how much password security had changed since companies moved to remote work environments.
Were remote employees following simple best practices to secure their passwords, or were they falling prey to“password fatigue” and engaging in bad habits that lead to significant cybersecurity risks? Which is why Keeper,in partnership with Pollfish, conducted the Workplace Password Malpractice Survey.
While Ponemon surveyed organizational leaders, we decided to go straight to employees for this survey, and we queried
1,000 full-time workers in the United States about their password habits. The survey was completed in February 2021,
and consisted of only individuals who used passwords to log into work-related online accounts.
Following are the most important findings from the survey. The full data can also be viewed on page 5.

Finding 1: U.S. employees are tracking & storing their login credentials insecurely
Our survey found that U.S. employees are not following best practices when storing and tracking their work-related
passwords, presenting major cybersecurity risks for their employers.
• Over half of respondents (57%) admit to writing down work-related online passwords on “sticky notes”, andtwo-thirds (67%) admit to having lost these notes. In addition to leaving sensitive corporate information in fullview of anyone else living in or visiting their home, this harms organizational efficiency. Lost sticky notes mean
lost passwords, which result in help desk tickets to reset said passwords.
• 62% of respondents store login credentials in a notebook or journal, and the overwhelming majority (82%) say thatthey keep these notebooks next to or close to their work devices, where they can be accessed by anyone else wholives in or is visiting their home.
Using a pen and paper to keep track of passwords has become even more problematic in the remote work world. Most
workers (66%) say that they’re more likely to write down work-related passwords when working from home than they
are while working in the office.

© 2021 Keeper Security, Inc.

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WORKPLACE PASSWORD MALPRACTICE REPORTEven when using digital methods to track and store their passwords, U.S. employees are engaging in poor password
security practices.
• Nearly half of respondents (49%) save work-related passwords in a document in the cloud.
• Just over half (51%) say that they currently save these passwords in a document saved on their computer.
• 55% save work-related passwords on their phone.
Storing passwords in unencrypted files is extremely risky. All a cybercriminal needs to do is breach the cloud storage,
computer, or mobile device, and they can access all of the employee’s passwords.

Finding 2: U.S. employees are creating weak, easily guessed passwords
A strong password consists of a random string of uppercase and lowercase letters, numerals, and special characters.
However, many respondents admitted to using passwords that contain personal details, which cybercriminals can easilyfind on social media channels.
• Over one-third (37%) of respondents have used their employer’s name in a work-related password.
• Over one-third (34%) have used their significant other’s name or birthday.
• Nearly one-third (31%) have used their child’s name or birthday.
Password re-usage between personal and work-related accounts has become a big cybersecurity risk for companies,
with 44% of respondents admitting to reusing passwords across personal and work-related accounts and 53% admitting
to keeping password-protected personal accounts on their work devices.

Finding 3: U.S. employees are sharing work-related passwords with unauthorized parties
Many U.S. employees are not exercising care regarding whom they share their work-related passwords with. This putsorganizations at risk of being breached should these passwords wind up in the hands of someone who is careless or who
has malicious intentions.
• Over the past year, 14% of respondents have shared their work-related passwords with their significant otheror spouse.
• 11% of respondents have shared work-related passwords with another family member.
Even absent a data breach, an employer could be found out of compliance, and assessed very large penalties, if it is
discovered that unauthorized parties have viewed compliance-protected data.

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Finding 4: U.S. employers are not doing their part to ensure that passwords are being
shared securely and/or only with authorized parties
Our survey found that shared passwords in the workplace are common.
• Nearly half of respondents (46%) report that their company shares passwords for accounts that are used bymultiple people.
• Over one-third (34%) have shared work-related passwords with colleagues on the same team.
• Nearly one-third (32%) have shared work-related passwords with their managers.
• 19% have shared their passwords with their executive team.
The best thing to do is to give every user a unique password for every work-related account or application, which canbe practically done by utilizing the use of an Enterprise Password Management (EPM) platform. Password-sharing in
the workplace is safe if the passwords are shared securely, and if passwords are shared only with unauthorized parties.
Our survey results indicate that many U.S. employers are not exercising risk mitigation strategies to help ensure safe
password-sharing.
• The majority of respondents (62%) report sharing a work-related password over text message or email, which
could be intercepted by cybercriminals in transit.
• Nearly one-third of respondents (32%) admit to accessing an online account belonging to a previous employer,
which indicates that many employers are not disabling accounts when employees leave the company.

Conclusion
Adopting and implementing an enterprise password management platform such as Keeper Enterprise would curethe password malpractice uncovered in this survey. Keeper’s zero-knowledge password encryption and zero-trust
framework provides advanced password management, secure sharing, and other security capabilities. IT administratorsand leaders gain complete visibility and control into employee password practices, including:• Exclusive, proprietary zero-knowledge security model and zero-trust framework system; all data in transit and atrest is encrypted; it cannot be viewed by Keeper Security employees or any outside party.
• Rapid deployment on all devices, with no upfront equipment or installation costs.
• Personalized onboarding and 24/7 support and training from a dedicated support specialist.
• Support for RBAC, 2FA, auditing, event reporting, and multiple compliance standards, including HIPAA, DPA, 		
FINRA, and GDPR.
• Provision secure shared folders, subfolders, and passwords for teams.
• Single Singn-On (SAML 2.0) authentication• Enable offline vault access when SSO is not available.
• Dynamically provision vaults through SCIM.
• Configure for High Availability (HA).
• Advanced two-factor/multi-factor authentication• Active Directory and LDP sync
• SCIM and Azure AD provisioning• Developer APIs for password rotation and backend integration© 2021 Keeper Security, Inc.

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Audience Demographics
Sample Size 1000

Career5

Advertising
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting

12Arts, Entertainment, or Recreation

15

Automotive

7

Broadcasting

4
38

Construction
Consulting

5
88

Education
Energy, Utilities, Oil & Gas

9Fashion/Apparel

3
85

Finance & Insurance

34

Government & Public Admin

140

Health Care & Social Assistance2

Homemaker

29

Hotel & Food Services

Human Resources

13

Information - Other

21

Information - Services & Data

119

Legal Services

24

Manufacturing - Computer & Electronics

10

Manufacturing - Other

35

Market ResearchMarketing/Sales

13

Military

1

Personal Services

14

Processing

8

Publishing

2

Real Estate, Rental, or Leasing

13

Religious

2
34

Retail24

Scientific or Technical Services
2

Security

7

Shipping/Distribution

80

Software16

Telecommunications
Transportation & Warehousing

30

Wholesale

7

Other

48
0

50

100

150

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Education
500
436
400

345

300
200
132
75

100
12

0

Middle School

High School

Vocational/
Technical
College

University

Post-graduate

Income
250
228
200

164
154

150

123

122

118

100
52

50
0
< $25K$25K $49,999K$50K $74,999$75K $99,999$100K $124,999$125K $149,999>$150K

Prefernot to say

Ethnicity
1000

793

800
600
400
200
80
54

60
20

42

34

40

21

3

29
16

8

0
Arab

Asian

Black

Hispanic

LatinoWhite Multiracial Other

Prefer not
to say© 2021 Keeper Security, Inc.

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Employment Status
1250
1000

1000
750
500
250
0

Out of work Out of work Homemaker Student Military Retired Unable Other
Employed
Selfto work
for wages Employed & looking & not looking

Number of Employees
190

200

163

171

150
100

89

50
8

26

35

50

101

86

53
5

0
1

2-5

6-10

11-25

26-50

51100

1012502515005011000

1001- >5000
5000

IDK

23
prefernot to say© 2021 Keeper Security, Inc.

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WORKPLACE PASSWORD MALPRACTICE REPORT

Organization Role
68

Owner or Partner
President/CEO/Chairperson

34
53

C-Level Executive

Middle Management

140

Chief Financial Officer

7

Chief Technical Officer

6

Senior Management

88

Director

42

HR Manager

16

Product Manager

31

Supply Manager

8

Project Management

30

Business Administrator

12Supervisor

39

Administrative/Clerical

65

Craftsman

14

Foreman6
87

Technical Staff
35

Sales Staff
Buyer/Purchasing Agent

8
167

Other non-management Staff
43

Prefer not to say
0

50

100

150

200

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Spoken Languages
English1000

Spanish33
13

Portuguese
Arabic10

Azerbaijani

6

Bengali

6

Bulgarian

8

Chinese Simplified

12

Chinese Traditional

6

Czech

7

Danish

7

Dutch

8

Egyptian

6

Estonian

6

Filipino

8

Finnish7

French13

Georgian

6

German

12

Greek

8

Hebrew

6

Hindi

10

Hungarian

6

Indonesian

6

Italian

8

Japanese

8

Korean7

Lithuanian

6

Norwegian6

Pashto6

Persian

6

Polish8

Punjabi6

Romanian

7

Russian11

Serbian6

Slovak6

Swedish

6

Thai

6

Turkish7

Ukrainian

6

Uzbek

6
0

250

500

750

1000

1250
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Ratings & Awards
Keeper has been named PC Magazine’s Best Password Manager of the Year & Editors’ Choice, PCWorld’s Editors’
Choice for two consecutive years and is the winner of four G2 awards for Best Software and four InfoSec Award
for Best Product in Password Management for SMB and Best Product for SMB Cybersecurity. Keeper is SOC-2
and ISO 27001 Certified and is listed for use by the U.S. federal government through the System for AwardManagement (SAM).

Gartner Peer Insights
4.9 out of 5 stars

Spiceworks
5 out of 5 stars

Publisher’s Choice Cybersecurity
Password Management
Cutting Edge Chief Executive of the Year

Editors’ Choice
4.5 out of 5 stars

2020 Enterprise Leader
4.7 out of 5 stars

Best Product in Password Management
Best Product for SMB Cybersecurity
Publisher’s Choice for Chief Executive of the Year
Most Innovative CTO of the YearBest Password Manager of the Year
& Editors’ Choice 2019 & 2020

Editors’ Choice 2018 & 2019

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WORKPLACE PASSWORD MALPRACTICE REPORT

To download a copy of the Workplace Password Malpractice Report, infographic and more, visit our dedicatedresources hub. For more information on Keeper Security, or how to defend your organization from password-related
data breaches, go to keepersecurity.com.

Methodology
Keeper Security contracted with Pollfish to conduct this survey of 1,000 full time employees in the United States. Only
individuals who use passwords to log into work-related online accounts were included. The survey was completed in
February 2021.

About Keeper Security, Inc.
Keeper Security, Inc. (Keeper) is the highly-rated and patented cybersecurity platform for preventing password-related
data breaches and cyberthreats. Keeper’s zero-knowledge security and encryption software is trusted by millions ofpeople and thousands of businesses across the globe to mitigate the risk of cybertheft, boost employee productivity
and meet compliance standards. In 2020, Keeper was named PCMag’s Best Password Manager of the Year & Editors’
Choice for the third time. Keeper has also been named PCWorld’s Editors’ Choice and is the winner of four G2 Best
Software Awards and the InfoSec Award for Best Product in Password Management for SMB Cybersecurity. Keeper is
SOC-2 and ISO 27001 Certified and is also listed for use by the U.S. federal government through the System for AwardManagement (SAM).

keepersecurity.com© 2021 Keeper Security, Inc.