It’s World Password Day this Thursday! Do you know what that means? That’s right, it’s that time of year when we get to discover just how truly awful we are at the whole password thing. Oh, and how to improve, of course.
Image: Shutterstock
With an average of 26 different personal and business-related accounts that require a password, 33 per cent of Australians forget one of them every single week. Even though “Password” is still the most common password. C’mon guys, this has to stop. We can do so much better than this.
When it comes to maximising our online security we fare even worse, with 68 per cent of Australians not knowing what multi-factor authentication is. It’s important, that’s what it is. Here’s some info. Use it, tell your friends, tell your Mum.
But maybe don’t tell your Mum your password. 20 per cent of Australians surveyed have regretted sharing a password with a family member or friend in the past.
What I think it all comes down to is the need for an easier solution. It’s pretty easy to be overwhelmed by a huge amount of passwords, after all! 53 per cent of Australians would prefer to use thumbprint recognition and 20 per cent would prefer to use an eye scanner to login into their accounts instead of the traditional password. So perhaps, in the future, we may not suck as badly.
In the meantime, though, there are a number of steps we can take to make our online lives more secure.
- Check the strength of your passwords
- Use unique passwords for every account
- Change your passwords regularly
- Stop using one word passwords
- Lock your mobile with a PIN or password
- Let a manager memorise your passwords
- Enable multi-factor authentication
“Individuals need to prioritise their digital safety and security by using services such as password managers and multi-factor authentication,” says Melanie Duca from Intel Security, who conducted the survey. “These tools are there to help with the daily challenge of trying to remember several passwords.”
We can do it, Australia. Let’s educate each other and make next year’s report a glowing one.
Comments
5 responses to “Australians Are Really Terrible At Passwords”
“With an average of 26 different personal and business-related accounts that require a password, …”
They must live very dull or simple lives on line. My LastPass manager lists 184 sites I have passwords for (although admittedly, some are sites that I only visit infrequently).
Or perhaps they have actual lives off screen and outside?
Whats to say the two are mutually exclusive?
Amateur.. I have 302 sites and each one has a different password!
Haha 312…. though admittedly some of them are obsolete and probably should be deleted.
i found out today that ANZ will only allow you to use letters and numbers in online banking passwords, no special characters allowed at all. how ridiculous!
This is the same with Commbank.. Not sure why they do this.. I voiced my concern to them about his but was told that if anything is stolen they will re-imburse me. Also Last pass has saved me more times i care to remember. 5 years ago i had 4-5 passwords that i used for almost everything . First time one of the accounts become compromised it was a pain changing 100+ passwords everywhere else..