Effect of Low Literacy on Password Formation Strategy as Impediment to Participation in Modern Life: Evaluation and Intervention Tutorial

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2019

Type of Work

Department

Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies

Program

Interaction Design and Information Architecture

Citation of Original Publication

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by the University of Baltimore for non-commercial research and educational purposes.

Abstract

Despite widespread acknowledgement that they are an imperfect compromise, text passwords remain the most common method of authenticating user access to digital resources. Responsible stewardship of those resources, both for the protection of the user/accountholder, and for the protection of the agencies charged with the resources’ guardianship, has dictated that secure passwords evolve to near or beyond the practical limit for humans to compose and remember them. This thesis examines the degree to which low literacy interacts with these password requirements to create a barrier to participation in commerce and government safety net services. A tutorial video intervention was evaluated for effectiveness in creating more secure, more memorable passwords.