Credentials and authentication are involved in 33% of all breaches. This reality persists even as 67% of organizations still rely on passwords as a primary authentication method. The following statistics detail the persistent risks and the industry's slow but measurable shift toward stronger controls.
Key Takeaways
- Verizon DBIR 2024 reports credentials and authentication are involved in 33% of breaches (category: credential-related)
- 59% of organizations use password complexity requirements (2023 NIST-aligned industry survey)
- 31% of breaches include credential theft or misuse (2024)
- 45% of malware-based attacks involved credential theft (2023)
- 67% of surveyed organizations said passwords are still used as a primary authentication method (2024)
- 74% of organizations say they plan to deploy passwordless authentication within 12 months (2024)
- Password manager adoption reached 26% of organizations (2023)
- Biometric authentication adoption increased to 18% of enterprises (2023)
- Global identity verification market is expected to grow to $8.9 billion by 2030 (2024 forecast)
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) market is expected to exceed $10.2 billion by 2030 (2024 forecast)
- Global IAM market size is projected to reach $33.4 billion by 2030 (2024 forecast)
- Users choose predictable patterns: 40% of passwords contain common substitutions (peer-reviewed study, 2015)
- The Effective Password Strength study found that 30% of user passwords are among the most vulnerable 10% of password types (peer-reviewed)
- Password-related incidents account for 18% of identity and access management operational incidents (share from an IAM operations benchmark).
- Average cost per password reset ticket is $10.30 (2017 survey by an IT service management firm)
Credential theft and phishing still drive breaches, even as organizations adopt MFA, password managers, and passwordless plans.
Related reading
01 · Category
Password Policies1 stats
01
Verizon DBIR 2024 reports credentials and authentication are involved in 33% of breaches (category: credential-related)
Interpretation
Password Policies Interpretation
Verizon DBIR 2024 shows that credentials and authentication are tied to 33% of breaches, underscoring that password and login controls are a major weak point within password policies.
02 · Category
Identity & MFA Adoption1 stats
01
59% of organizations use password complexity requirements (2023 NIST-aligned industry survey)
Interpretation
Identity & MFA Adoption Interpretation
In the Identity and MFA adoption space, 59% of organizations already require password complexity, suggesting that stronger password controls are a relatively common first step toward broader authentication improvements.
03 · Category
Breach Prevalence4 stats
01
31% of breaches include credential theft or misuse (2024)
02
45% of malware-based attacks involved credential theft (2023)
03
67% of surveyed organizations said passwords are still used as a primary authentication method (2024)
04
51% of breaches are caused by human involvement (2023)
Interpretation
Breach Prevalence Interpretation
Across breach-prevalence trends, credential misuse shows up in 31% of breaches in 2024 and 45% of malware-based attacks in 2023, reinforcing how password-centric risk remains persistent with 67% of organizations still using passwords as a primary authentication method.
04 · Category
Industry Trends6 stats
01
74% of organizations say they plan to deploy passwordless authentication within 12 months (2024)
02
Password manager adoption reached 26% of organizations (2023)
03
Biometric authentication adoption increased to 18% of enterprises (2023)
04
Account takeover is driven by credential reuse in 42% of observed cases (2023)
05
Successful credential stuffing is enabled by the use of known breached credentials at scale (Imperva telemetry study, 2024)
06
RFC 8265 (2017) standardizes fast, secure password hashing parameters for storage (measurable property: a standardized algorithm and work factors for PBKDF2/Argon2 guidance).
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
As part of the Industry Trends toward stronger authentication, 74% of organizations plan to deploy passwordless within 12 months while password managers sit at 26% adoption, reflecting a broader move away from passwords driven by risks like credential reuse accounting for 42% of account takeover cases in 2023.
05 · Category
Market Size4 stats
01
Global identity verification market is expected to grow to $8.9 billion by 2030 (2024 forecast)
02
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) market is expected to exceed $10.2 billion by 2030 (2024 forecast)
03
Global IAM market size is projected to reach $33.4 billion by 2030 (2024 forecast)
04
Consumer password management market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.1% from 2024 to 2030 (2024 forecast)
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
The Market Size outlook signals strong momentum for password-related security solutions, with the identity verification market projected to reach $8.9 billion by 2030 and the MFA market expected to exceed $10.2 billion the same year.
More related reading
06 · Category
Performance Metrics4 stats
01
Users choose predictable patterns: 40% of passwords contain common substitutions (peer-reviewed study, 2015)
02
The Effective Password Strength study found that 30% of user passwords are among the most vulnerable 10% of password types (peer-reviewed)
03
Password-related incidents account for 18% of identity and access management operational incidents (share from an IAM operations benchmark).
04
A peer-reviewed lab study found that one-time passwords (OTP) have measurably higher resistance to phishing than static passwords (measured via successful authentication outcomes).
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Under Performance Metrics, user passwords show weak real world effectiveness as 40% use common substitutions and 30% fall into the most vulnerable 10% of types, while password related incidents still drive 18% of IAM operational disruptions.
07 · Category
Cost Analysis3 stats
01
Average cost per password reset ticket is $10.30(2017 survey by an IT service management firm)
02
Average cost of cybercrime per organization is $14.83 million (2024)
03
57% of help-desk tickets were password-related in 2022 at surveyed organizations (fraction attributed to password resets and related issues).
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a cost analysis standpoint, password issues are a measurable drain with 57% of help-desk tickets tied to password problems and a $10.30 average reset ticket, occurring against an estimated $14.83 million cybercrime cost per organization in 2024.
08 · Category
User Adoption1 stats
01
81% of organizations in 2023 reported using multi-factor authentication for at least some user populations (adoption rate from an enterprise security survey).
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
In 2023, 81% of organizations reported using multi-factor authentication for at least some user populations, showing strong momentum in user adoption within password security practices.
09 · Category
Threat Landscape4 stats
01
Phishing remains the leading initial access vector for account compromise, accounting for 35% of breaches in a recent incident analysis (share of incidents by initial access vector).
02
In a large-scale study, 100 million password attempts were observed where attackers used breached credentials (attempt volume reported in the measurement study).
03
In real-world datasets, most password cracking attempts are throttled by rate limits; when rate limits are removed, compromise attempts increase sharply (measured change in success/attempt rates in the study).
04
A global anti-phishing campaign’s measurement showed that credential theft pages were among the top reported phish categories, at 24% of reported pages (category share from reporting analysis).
Interpretation
Threat Landscape Interpretation
In today’s threat landscape, phishing is driving account compromise at 35% of breaches while credential theft remains a major focus at 24% of reported phishing pages, and attacker success also rises sharply when rate limits are lifted on cracked attempts tied to breached credentials.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Rachel Svensson. (2026, February 13). Password Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/password-statistics
MLA
Rachel Svensson. "Password Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/password-statistics.
Chicago
Rachel Svensson. 2026. "Password Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/password-statistics.
Sources & references
28 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+6 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)