• Boston.com, Monday, April 12, 2010 3:03 PM

A study has found that such irritating security measures as online sign-in passwords are a waste of time. The study, by what Boston.com calls a "top researcher" at Microsoft, found that instructions intended to spare users from costly computer attacks "often exact a much steeper price in the form of user effort and time expended." Indeed, "Most security advice simply offers a poor cost-benefit trade-off to users," writes report author, Cormac Herley, a principal researcher for Microsoft Research. In particular, Herlery feels the standard rules for creating and protecting Web site passwords are ridiculous.

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