Project Director

Schwab, David

Department Examiner

Xie, Mengjun

Department

Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This study was performed with the goal of observing the effect, if any, that security fatigue has on students’ perceived strength of passwords. In doing so, it was hoped to find some correlation between the two that would help in establishing a measurable effect of the phenomenon in students. This could potentially aid organizational decision-makers, such as security policy writers and system admins, to make more informed decisions about implementing security measures. To achieve the goal of observing this fatigue and attempting to measure it, a survey was distributed to numerous students on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus. The results of the final data analysis show no correlation between security fatigue and students’ perceived password strength, but other findings of note did emerge. Notably, both fatigue-state groups of students showed very close mean scores for perceived password strength, with those scores indicating a higher trust in the strength of passwords than is actual. This result implies a lack of influence from security fatigue, as well as a general deficiency in students’ abilities to properly judge the strength of passwords. 2-Factor Authentication is thus proposed as a primary item of interest for addressing this deficiency and meeting the needs of students with varying priorities according to their fatigue state.

Acknowledgments

Great thanks to thesis director David Schwab and department examiner Dr. Mengjun Xie for editing, critique, and encouragement.

IRB Number

20-006

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2021

Subject

Computers--Access control--Passwords; Computer security; Universities and colleges--Security measures

Keyword

Password Strength; Passwords; Security Fatigue; Students; 2 Factor Authentication

Discipline

Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces | Information Security

Document Type

Theses

Extent

[iii], 60 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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