A survey conducted by Aura reveals that password sharing habits amongst Americans might be reaching levels that can be considered harmful, or at least inadvisable.
While everyone nowadays is, to some extent, aware of cybersecurity threats and the importance of taking a phone and keeping it on your person, awareness does not equal good practice. People have a habit of sharing passwords to personal accounts, streaming services, and the like. In fact, we’ve entered a weird old era where despite people breaking up with each other after a long-standing relationship, either party changes the password to the Netflix account. That is the modern equivalent of moving out of someone’s house, but checking in every now and then to use the facilities. Perhaps not the best analogy, but then again, I never claimed to be hip with the kids. Either way, in today’s day and age where cybersecurity attacks keep piling onto headline after headline, this is maybe too careless of a practice to continue.
The study conducted by The Harris Poll in collaboration with Aura, to delve into password sharing and protection practices amongst American citizens and found the results to be less than stellar. The poll revealed that one in every ten individuals would choose to prolong a relationship, just to keep sharing their significant other’s Netflix account. Which is a solid mix of both relatable and worrisome. The damage, however, extends beyond one’s personal life. 53% of all American admitted to sharing streaming service passwords with individuals outside of their home. Finally, 64% of all study participants admitted that they only changed passwords if they felt like they absolutely had to.
Individually, these statistics don’t really present much of an argument, short of stating that maybe Netflix accounts need to be discussed when establishing safe boundaries in a relationship? Of course, that all changes when we start taking that last part about password changing into account. Or if we draw our attention towards the fact that 38% of the study’s participants use the same password across multiple accounts of theirs. Suddenly, the image we see unfold in front of us is one of a cybersecurity hazard. Cybercrime has managed to come very far, with phishing attacks and the like getting smarter by the minute. Cybercriminals conduct the most elaborate of schemes to obtain passwords, and it seems like users in the USA are comfortable with just giving them away.
All of this is setting itself up for mass data hacks to start piling up on top of each other like dominos.
Read next: Find Out What Sites Track Your Every Click, and What You Can Do To Stop Them
While everyone nowadays is, to some extent, aware of cybersecurity threats and the importance of taking a phone and keeping it on your person, awareness does not equal good practice. People have a habit of sharing passwords to personal accounts, streaming services, and the like. In fact, we’ve entered a weird old era where despite people breaking up with each other after a long-standing relationship, either party changes the password to the Netflix account. That is the modern equivalent of moving out of someone’s house, but checking in every now and then to use the facilities. Perhaps not the best analogy, but then again, I never claimed to be hip with the kids. Either way, in today’s day and age where cybersecurity attacks keep piling onto headline after headline, this is maybe too careless of a practice to continue.
The study conducted by The Harris Poll in collaboration with Aura, to delve into password sharing and protection practices amongst American citizens and found the results to be less than stellar. The poll revealed that one in every ten individuals would choose to prolong a relationship, just to keep sharing their significant other’s Netflix account. Which is a solid mix of both relatable and worrisome. The damage, however, extends beyond one’s personal life. 53% of all American admitted to sharing streaming service passwords with individuals outside of their home. Finally, 64% of all study participants admitted that they only changed passwords if they felt like they absolutely had to.
Individually, these statistics don’t really present much of an argument, short of stating that maybe Netflix accounts need to be discussed when establishing safe boundaries in a relationship? Of course, that all changes when we start taking that last part about password changing into account. Or if we draw our attention towards the fact that 38% of the study’s participants use the same password across multiple accounts of theirs. Suddenly, the image we see unfold in front of us is one of a cybersecurity hazard. Cybercrime has managed to come very far, with phishing attacks and the like getting smarter by the minute. Cybercriminals conduct the most elaborate of schemes to obtain passwords, and it seems like users in the USA are comfortable with just giving them away.
All of this is setting itself up for mass data hacks to start piling up on top of each other like dominos.
Read next: Find Out What Sites Track Your Every Click, and What You Can Do To Stop Them