Need for Password Retention Policy

Logon legacy: People die, but their passwords live on and on
"As an ambulance whisked Jon Hansen to the hospital last year, he held tightly to his wife's hand and told her things she needed to know if he were to die.

"Write down this password," he told her. "Oh, you'll need this one, too. And you don't have this one, either."

The Orem, Utah, software salesman managed to recover from that near-fatal bout with encephalitis. But the ambulance ride taught him a valuable lesson.

"One of the first things I did was write down all my passwords and put them in the safe," he said. "I should have done that a long time ago."

Comment: For electronic discovery and electronic evidence purposes locating passwords of retired, dismissed or injured employees can pose a problem for uncovering electronic data.