Rejoice! The charade of having to change our passwords every few months is coming to an end

‘Studies reveal that in general people are still using usernames or passwords that are too simple, despite warnings from government and the industry.’ Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Over the past decade or so, people have accumulated a vast array of logins for dozens of sites and apps, as more of our work and home lives moves on to the internet. That’s why it has never made sense that so many IT departments have belligerently insisted on maintaining a major hurdle to password management. Namely, the need to change passwords regularly.

It’s a familiar scenario. You arrive at the office and need to log on to your company laptop quickly, before your morning meeting. But speed is not going to be of the essence today, because an annoying prompt has appeared: you need to change your password.