Password strength meters are effective in nudging users to come up with strong passwords for important accounts, but for new account registrations, or for unimportant accounts, users rely on old and often weak passwords. A paper released this week by researchers at the University of Cal Berkeley, University of British Columbia and Microsoft provides details on the results of a couple of experiments examining how these meters influence computer users when they re creating passwords. The researchers say the presence of a meter nudge users toward stronger passwords.
Source: https://threatpost.com/weak-easy-to-remember-passwords-a-familiar-crutch-for-users/100663/