Online passwords are used for many critical aspects of our lives. They are needed when we communicate, work, transact and travel. We use them to access our most sensitive data, from banking to health records. Digital passwords are the keys to our lives. Yet we are surprisingly negligent about password protection, from our choice of passwords to the means we use to remember them, and troublingly, our willingness to share sensitive passwords with others.
Keeper Security’s survey of 4,000+ respondents in the US and UK unearthed negligent attitudes toward password protection, in which passwords are being shared with spouses, written down on bits of paper, changed too often, and forgotten over 50 times per year! The result: nearly half of our 2,000 US survey respondents had been hacked at least once, with an average of $378 stolen per cyberattack. The consequences of poor password protection can be disastrous in an era of growing online crime and identity theft. A hacked password can result in ransacked bank accounts, obliterated credit ratings, damaged personal lives and severed business relationships.

Our findings show a troubling disconnect between the value people attach to their passwords and the means they use to protect them. In the US, people would rather see a dentist than lose their passwords, yet safe selection, storage, and management of passwords were found to be severely lacking in this study.

It is of great concern to see passwords being shared and duplicated across multiple platforms. It’s equally concerning to see the use of overly simple passwords, relying on publicly-available data, such as names and birthdays. This will remain an acute challenge as we continue to use a range of devices and platforms to access the internet. The impact of poor password protection was evidenced by the number of people in the survey reporting they’ve personally fallen victim to a cyberattack, resulting in financial loss and compromised social media profiles.

There is no getting away from the fact that passwords are still the cornerstone of modern cybersecurity practices. Despite decades of advice to users to always pick strong and unique passwords for each of their online accounts, Keeper Security found that only one-quarter of survey respondents actually do this. Many use repeat variations of the same password (34%) or still admit to using simple passwords to secure their online accounts (30%). Perhaps more worryingly, almost half (44%) of those who claimed all their passwords were well-managed also said they used repeated variations of them. One in five also admitted to knowing they’ve had at least one password involved in a data breach or available on the dark web.

At first glance, these results may come as a shock, especially to those in the cybersecurity industry who have been touting these simple best practices for years. However, when considering more than one in three people (35%) globally admit to feeling overwhelmed when it comes to taking action to improve their cybersecurity, and one in ten admit to neglecting password management altogether, the results are much less of a surprise.

Cybersecurity is a priority and cybersecurity solutions must also be. The threat landscape continues to expand as our lives shift from in-person banks, stores, and coffee shops to online banking, internet shopping, social networking, and everything in between. We have never been more dependent on our phones, computers, and connected devices, yet we are overconfident in our ability to protect them and willfully ignoring the actions we must take to do so. Perhaps we need more people to admit they’re as careless as a bull in a china shop, burying their heads in the sand like an ostrich or simply paralyzed with fear. Facing reality and coming to recognize what’s at stake, they can more confidently charge forward and take the necessary steps to protect their information, identities and online accounts.