Though much is known about how adults understand and use passwords, little research attention has been paid specifically to parents or, more importantly, to how parents are involved in their children’s password practices. To better understand both the password practices of parents, as well as how parents are involved in their children’s password practices, we conducted a survey study of 265 parents in the United States (US) with school-aged children (kindergarten through 12th grade, 5 to 18 years old). We asked parents about their general technology use, the kinds of technologies and password-protected accounts they have; how they make and maintain their passwords; and about how, if at all, they help their children create and maintain passwords. We found that parent password practices align with research surrounding adult password practices, and that parents, especially those of younger children, are very involved in the creation and maintenance of their children’s passwords. With these findings, we conclude with both recommendations for future research, as well as a call for the cybersecurity community to better support parents’ password understandings and practices so that parents can better support their children.
Though much is known about how adults understand and use passwords, little research attention has been paid specifically to parents or, more importantly, to how parents are involved in their children’s password practices. To better understand both the password practices of parents, as well as how...
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Though much is known about how adults understand and use passwords, little research attention has been paid specifically to parents or, more importantly, to how parents are involved in their children’s password practices. To better understand both the password practices of parents, as well as how parents are involved in their children’s password practices, we conducted a survey study of 265 parents in the United States (US) with school-aged children (kindergarten through 12th grade, 5 to 18 years old). We asked parents about their general technology use, the kinds of technologies and password-protected accounts they have; how they make and maintain their passwords; and about how, if at all, they help their children create and maintain passwords. We found that parent password practices align with research surrounding adult password practices, and that parents, especially those of younger children, are very involved in the creation and maintenance of their children’s passwords. With these findings, we conclude with both recommendations for future research, as well as a call for the cybersecurity community to better support parents’ password understandings and practices so that parents can better support their children.
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