Some organizations still believe that requiring password changes or login credentials every ninety days is making the organization more secure, but modern cybersecurity and IT teams know better. In June of 2017, NIST's Digital Identity Guidelines (Special Publication 800-63-3), explicitly recommended against arbitrary periodic password changes. This marked a departure from earlier practices that often encouraged frequent password changes. Research showed that forced periodic changes led users to choose weaker, predictable passwords like "Password1" to "Password2" and it actually reduced overall security.
Subsequent updates in 2025 to the NIST standards, including the SP 800-63-4, maintain and reinforce this stance: no mandatory periodic resets unless there's evidence of compromise. This is also echoed by The Center for Internet Security (CIS) which in 2020 released the Password Policy Guide consolidating best practices and stating that periodic password changes are more harmful than beneficial.
Password usage and creation is tricky because you can set a guideline but it's up to the individual employee on what kind of password they use or in many cases reuse. Employees are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of accounts they need to manage and they all require passwords. When faced with strict complexity requirements and frequent forced resets, human nature takes over. People find shortcuts. They write passwords on sticky notes hidden under keyboards. They increment the number at the end of their old password just to satisfy the system. These behaviors aren't malicious, but they create massive vulnerabilities that traditional training sessions rarely address effectively.
Real security requires looking at how your team interacts with technology every single day. It means understanding the friction points that cause people to bypass safety protocols. If your training doesn't account for human psychology and workflow realities, you aren't actually securing your network. You are just creating more administrative hurdles that your team will eventually find a way to jump over.
Key Takeaways
- Traditional annual training sessions fail to change daily password bad habits.
- Mandatory password reset policies are old and actually have been proven to be less secure.
- Password reuse across personal and professional accounts creates significant security gaps.
- Informal password sharing among team members is a common but dangerous practice.
- Microlearning provides consistent reinforcement that actually shifts user behavior over time.
The Problem with "Once a Year" Compliance
The standard approach to cybersecurity training often relies on a long video or annual seminar. Employees sit through it, complete a quiz, and move on. Within days, most of the information is forgotten. This check-the-box approach is risky because it creates a false sense of readiness. Leaders assume knowledge exists, but without retention, that knowledge is useless.
Key issues with traditional training include:
- weak passwords contributing to most breaches because convenience wins
- Frequent required password reset policies fail to make behavior change
- employees resenting training that interrupts their workflow
When security training feels like an obstacle, employees look for shortcuts. This leads to shadow IT and unsafe workarounds that attackers exploit. Effective training must be continuous and bite-sized, reinforcing good habits without disrupting the workday.
Related: Top 5 Online Cyber Security Training Topics for Employees
Why Complexity Rules Often Backfire
Traditional password rules focused on complexity, assuming random characters meant stronger security, but they failed in practice because people can’t remember them. Users fall into predictable patterns that attackers easily exploit, turning “complex” passwords into easy targets. Modern guidance now favors long, memorable passphrases with no forced resets (unless the password was compromised), which are both more secure and easier for users to manage.
A passphrase like "Correct-Horse-Battery-Staple" is mathematically harder for a computer to crack than "P@ssw0rd1", yet it is infinitely easier for a human to remember. Training programs need to pivot from teaching complexity to teaching length and entropy. This shift reduces user frustration and actually increases the security of the credentials.
The Hidden Danger of Password Reuse
One of the biggest risks to organizations comes from password reuse across personal and work accounts. When a third-party site is breached, stolen credentials are quickly tested against corporate systems through credential stuffing, bypassing technical defenses entirely. Because this is a behavior problem, not a firewall issue, training must emphasize unique passwords for every account and normalize the use of password managers to make secure habits realistic and sustainable. And this reinforces the idea that IT should not require frequent password changes but instead explain how to make a strong password that can then be used and maintained.
Related: The Importance of Training to Mitigate Insider Threats
Addressing the "Shared Account" Grey Area
Password sharing is common in fast-paced teams, whether it’s a shared tool login or credentials stored on a whiteboard or spreadsheet, but it quietly creates serious risk. Shared passwords erase accountability, make breaches impossible to trace, and often remain unchanged after employees leave. Effective training needs to address this reality by offering safe alternatives, like proper access controls or secure password vaults, because without a secure way to collaborate, teams will default to insecure habits and share passwords.
Practical Steps for Better Hygiene
Upgrading your password hygiene training requires a shift in focus. You need to move away from memorization and toward management. The goal is not to make employees better at remembering passwords. The goal is to make them better at managing access.
Here is how you can restructure your approach:
1. Normalize the Use of Password Managers
These tools remove the cognitive load from the user. If an employee only has to remember one strong master password, they are far more likely to use unique, complex strings for everything else. Your training should show them exactly how to set this up and use it daily. When you remove the burden of memory, compliance becomes easy.
2. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Make sure your team understands that a password alone is never enough. MFA is the safety net that catches them when they slip up. However, you must also train them on MFA fatigue. Explain that accepting an MFA prompt they didn't trigger is just as dangerous as giving away their password. Context matters, and your password security training needs to cover these nuances.
3. Make Security Personal
Finally, you need training that covers the personal side of things. When you help employees secure their personal bank accounts and social media profiles, they naturally bring those better habits into the workplace. It stops being a rule they follow for the boss and becomes a lifestyle change they make for themselves.
If you are ready to fix these gaps, you can check out fully-managed security awareness training to help your team build better habits.
Building a Resilient Defense
Security is a daily practice, not a product, and its strength depends on the people using it. When password hygiene is treated as a nuisance, risk stays high, but engaging, practical training can shift behavior and turn users into defenders. By replacing outdated rules with strategies that match how people actually work, you create a culture where security is easy to understand, easy to practice, and followed because it makes sense, not because it is enforced