Nearly 60% of mobile device users have had to reset a password in the past two months.
Further, a survey by Keeper Security has found that more than half of respondents are still trying to remember their passwords in their heads. They are also two times more likely to have trouble logging into an account if they wrote their passwords down or tried to memorize them.
This is directly related to the alarming statistic that found that 87% of mobile device users between the ages of 18-30 reuse passwords across multiple websites and applications.
This bad habit could result in millions of accounts being compromised since hackers typically test a stolen password against multiple accounts, including banking, retail, social media, email and healthcare websites. One stolen password could give a hacker the keys to a person’s digital life.
Users are not without awareness of the issue: The survey also showed that nearly half (46%) of respondents think their phone is the least secure device that they own. Even so, 41% use their phone for sensitive, password-protected applications (banking/healthcare).
“People have a tremendous amount of personal and confidential information on their smartphones,” said Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security. “It was disturbing to find that almost half of respondents in our survey think their phone is the least secure device that they own, yet 55% of them haven’t downloaded a security application. It is clear that further education regarding the importance of mobile cybersecurity is necessary in order to protect their digital lives.”
Interestingly, age and salary correlate to the to the level of security on a phone. About half (46%) of people aged 45+ do not password-protect their phones with a secure lock screen, compared to 26% of those aged 44 and under. And, 34% of respondents making under $75,000 annually do not password-protect their phone, compared to 25% of those making $75,000 or more.
Also, the vast majority are not worried about social media security, yet 75% of users connect to their social media profiles on other websites and applications (e.g. login with Facebook).
“An important first step to mobile cybersecurity is for consumers to learn how to create secure passwords and not reuse passwords over multiple logins,” noted Guccione. “Also, website administrators need to implement password complexity policies to secure users.”