Dutch websites need to improve their password policies - consumer assn

Dutch consumer organisation Consumentenbond said popular websites don’t have a strong enough password policy. On these websites, visitors are not encouraged enough to put in a strong password, or, the website makes it difficult for users to do so. The Consumentenbond advised 39 companies to adjust their policies.

One third of the 87 sites the organisation looked at did not have a proper policy. These sites allow short passwords or passwords that are relatively easy to guess or that many people use. For 1 in 5 websites, passwords with more than 30 characters were impossible. Others make it too difficult for visitors to set up complicated passwords. A quarter of the sites had not taken any measures against brute force attacks, where hackers try out a whole register of passwords.