Passwords can be a real pain in the proverbial butt for IT people.

Ensuring the strength of passwords is nothing new. They need to be complex enough to withstand even the most basic of attacks. But what about the number of passwords that employees have to remember to do their jobs? If remembering one good, complex password is difficult, then is remembering 12 near impossible?

A recent SearchSecurity.com poll found that 77% of respondents had six or more passwords to remember for their jobs. About 23% had five or fewer passwords. But 20% had 15 or more passwords for their jobs. More than 200 took part in the online survey.

Recently, SearchSecurity.com contacted some users to see if this jibed with reality. For many, alternatives to passwords are not necessarily the answer. Having a bunch of passwords is part of being an IT professional or "part of the wretched way the world is," said Jon Callas, chief technology officer and founder of PGP Corp. and a SearchSecurity.com site expert.

So what is the way to minimize the number of passwords users need to know? Biometrics? Smart cards? While such devices have their place, they won't replace all the passwords that users need to remember. "Since relatively few systems are set up to use smart cards or biometrics, these systems would only eliminate one-third to two-thirds of passwords, and that still leaves me with probably a good half-dozen that I need to remember," Callas said.

Of course,