Investigating Children's Passwords using a Game-based Survey

Abstract

This work describes how a simple Android game was used to study password and username creation with children aged 7 and 8. Children answered questions, made a username and password, and then later used these to log in. The novelty is in the use of the approach as well as in the findings. The findings confirm earlier work in regards to password length, suggesting six characters as adequate, and provide preliminary evidence that most children use familiar items in password and especially username creation.