A LastPass survey in 2021 (based on 3,750 people across seven countries) found that 65% of people always or mostly use the same password across multiple accounts. While people know that using long and complicated passwords – and changing them regularly – is the best way to keep their accounts safe online, the reality is that most just can’t, or don’t, do it. In 2019, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published an analysis of the 100,000 most used passwords online, showing that a huge number of security breaches were fundamentally a consequence of easily-guessed passwords. There’s even a term for this phenomenon – password fatigue – and it has consequences. So is it any wonder that many stop trying to create and remember unique passwords? Tired passwordsĬybersecurity experts regularly publish reports saying that the most popular passwords continue to be ‘password’, ‘123456’, and ‘qwerty’. Research has shown that the average person has between 70 and 80 passwords to remember at any given time. Surveys show most people use the same passwords for all their digital needs, recycling and reusing them in different apps, online shopping sites and work systems. He details the evolution of most people’s password creation technique how everyone started with one “special word”, and as websites began to require stronger passwords, the entire population obliged by first adding a capital letter, then the number one, and then an exclamation mark. Have you seen Michael McIntyre’s comedy sketch about passwords? If you haven’t, it’s well worth a watch who knew cybersecurity could be so hilarious? As is often the case with observational comedy, it’s funny because it’s true. Alex Meehan looks at ways to crack the password conundrum The average person is expected to have nearly one hundred unique and complex passwords swimming about in their head, ready to be recalled and input whenever needed.
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