Digital security firm says most people use one password for multiple websites

Nearly three out of four people use the same password for more than one site, while more than three out of five smartphone owners do not use a passcode to protect their devices.

 

These were among the findings of a criminal-record database service Instant Checkmate, which generated an infographic on the dangerous state of digital security.

 

"A third of people use the same password for every site; and the weakest passwords (somewhat obviously) include 'password' and '123456,'" noted tech site Mashable, which posted the infographic on its site.

 

On the other hand, the study found an expert hacker can crack the average password in under three minutes.

 

Instant Checkmate noted the average person regularly visits 25 password-protected sites, but only uses six different passwords.

 

The study found 73 percent of people use the same password for multiple sites, while 33 percent of people use the same password for every site.

 

Also, it said 32 percent save passwords and other login data on a cell phone, while 62 percent of smartphone owners do not use a passcode for their phones.

 

Weak passwords

 

The Instant Checkmate study found that most people use weak passwords at these rates:

 

- 4 percent of people use the word "password" as their password.

- 25 percent of the top 20 most common passwords are first names.

- 5 percent of men use their partners' names in passwords.

- 30 percent of women use their partners' names in passwords.

 

The study also found the average password is six characters - and all lowercase letters.

 

It also found the top 10 weakest passwords for 2012 included:

 

- password

- 123456

- 12345678

- abc123

- qwerty

- monkey

- letmein

- dragon

- 111111

- baseball

 

Do's and don'ts

 

Instant Checkmate offered these tips to make passwords stronger:

 

- make passwords 8 characters or more

- mix lowercase, uppercase, numbers and characters

- choose a password you will remember

- test your password

- set up a password recovery method

- change password twice a year

 

On the other hand, it warned against these practices:

 

- use public information like name and birthday

- use complete words

- write password down

- use same password for multiple accounts

- log in to private accounts on public computers

- tell anyone your password

 

— ELR, GMA News