Many Users Still Use Only One Password For All Accounts, Kaspersky Lab Quiz Shows

Testing of user cyber savviness carried out by Kaspersky Lab has demonstrated that many people are still not sufficiently careful about their passwords. Only 38% create strong new passwords for each account, while one in seven (14%) has just one password for all accounts. These users risk having several accounts simultaneously compromised in the event of a data leak.

The level of risk is not much lower for those whouse just a few passwords for alarger number of accounts (36%) and those who use variations of the same password pattern (12%). What further complicates the situation is that, according to another Kaspersky Lab survey, one user in10 comes up with passwords that are less than eight characters in length, while 12% do not try to make their passwords more difficult to guess by using, for instance, upper-case letters, numbers mixed with letters, punctuation signs or other similar tricks.

To make matters worse, the study also revealed that consumers are putting the safety at risk by storing their passwords in easy to access or unsecure places. Over half (57%)ofrespondentsadmitted they kept their passwords on a piece of paper, on their phones, in text files on their computers, or saved them in the browser. And when the browser offers to save a login and password, a third (36%) are ready to agree, thus playinginto the hands of cybercriminals or dishonest people who may get hold of their device.

Thiscarelessattitudetowardspasswordscanbeexplainedbymanyusersbeing convinced they have no confidential information stored on their computers. Thisiswhat 27% ofrespondentsbelieve, without realizing that passwords and logins are in themselves a favorite target of cybercriminals. In addition, one more Kaspersky Lab’s recent studyshowed that 73% of users would rather reveal their passwords than go without underwear. As a result, an alarming 25% ofthose userssurveyed have had their accounts hijackedin the last year.

“Unfortunately, many people don’t have a very goodunderstanding of the scale of Internet threats and are not serious enough about protecting their personal data online, significantly increasing theris koflosingit,” explains DavidEmm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab. “A strongpassword that differs foreachaccount is an important basic element of protecting your digital identity. You can think of and apply a single algorithm to create passwords which are not easily cracked but which you can easily remember. There are also special programs that make creating and storing passwords easier.”

Dealing with passwordscan be made much easier with Kaspersky Password Manager, which is included in Kaspersky Total Security – Multi-Device.KasperskyPasswordManagercreates strong passwords, stores them securely, and automatically synchronizes and inserts passwords on all of the user’s devices.

Are you good at protecting yourself online? Takethetestathttps://blog.kaspersky.com/cyber-savvy-quiz/. Learn how to secure your data athttps://blog.kaspersky.com/tag/cybersavvy.