From "password" to "god" to "123456," just about everyone has such a crutch when it comes time to create a password online.
Symantec offers some interesting insight into the way we choose our passwords, and some of the findings of its informal survey of more than 400 users are intriguing. Some of the news is good, some is troubling, but most of it is devilishly interesting.
Some of the highlights (as chosen by me):
• The most common password shortcut is underfoot: 10 percent of those polled said they had used a pet's name as a password. The user's birthday was the next most common shortcut, with 9 percent of users fessing up to that trick. The good news: 72 percent of users claimed not to use any easily guessable shortcut (including middle name, 123456, or "password") as a password.
• Only 8 percent of users use the same password everywhere. Forty-five percent rotate through a few passwords, and 47 percent say they use unique or mostly unique passwords on each site.
• Twenty-three percent let their Web browser keep track of their passwords. This seems incredibly low to me, but an additional 33 percent say they use password-management software — increasing the number of people using automated methods to keep their passwords alive. Fifty-nine percent claim to use "memory" alone to keep track of secure logins, and 7 percent use the tried-and-true "Post-It note stuck on the monitor" method to keep track of passwords.
• Seventy-eight percent of users change their passwords rarely (once a year or less) or never.
• Over 40 percent of users have shared a password with a spouse, friend, co-worker, or employer.
Overall, not terribly discouraging results. Just remember that your puppy may be man's best friend, but in the digital world, he can easily bite you.
Are you guilty of password abuse? Remember to keep your passwords obscure yet memorable; as long as possible; and, most important, private.
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