Our new survey
has found that surprisingly, the older and wiser among us are more secure
online.
We found that more
than a third of the over 55s use a different password on each online account
and over a quarter tend to change their passwords every few months.
Despite this, only
a fifth of 18-24 year olds bother to use a different password for each of their
accounts.
While a quarter
of youngsters admit to using the same password on every account, they do pick
the toughest passwords to crack, with over 70% of them refusing to use ‘obvious’
passwords such as pet names, partners’ names or memorable dates.
A third of our
respondents admitted to using weak passwords, with pet names being most popular (14.5%) followed
by date of birth (11.7%) and children’s names (10.2%).
One in six 18-24
year olds admitted they believe their passwords are insecure.
Only 1.5% of the
55+ age group admitted to using password as their password, compared to the
6.9% of 18-24 year olds who admitted to choosing this lazy option.
The older we
are, the least likely we are to have our password saved on a device - however
37.4% said they would write their password down and hide it.
We asked what
people would do if they had an account with Yahoo, after the news it had been
hacked last week. Those over 55 said they would delete their account (7.8%)
compared to only 2.8% of the other age groups.
The over 55s were
also the second most likely to say they would change their password immediately,
only being beaten by the 45-54 year olds.
When we asked
how secure they felt their accounts were, 81% of over 55s believed that their passwords were
secure, however they were the least likely to feel confident their data was
very secure.
Amidst the
hacking of a number of popular online platforms lately, such as the recent data
breach at Yahoo, having a secure password has become more important than ever.
Our study has
made it clear that the younger generations have less of a regard for password
security than those
senior to them. With these age groups more likely to have more online accounts
and being less
likely to use a variation of passwords, they’re leaving themselves prone to
hackers
*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.