Top Blunders to Avoid While Dealing with Passwords

Your online accounts stay safer as long as your passwords are stronger and secure. However, creating stronger passwords is not enough in today’s scenario where id theft is most prevalent. Handling of passwords is equally important as of creating strong passwords. The following are few blunders made by consumers in 2010, reported in a study from Internet security firm Webroot.

• Sharing or putting passwords in feasible reach of friends, acquaintances, etc. In 2010, 14% of the id thefts were committed by the people who were well-known to the victims.
• Using same password in multiple sites or multiple accounts. Another recent research study from University of Cambridge, reported that the password reuse rate among the stolen login information from two different websites, rootkit.com and gawker.com, with identical email addresses was around 31%. If a hacker manages to steal a user’s login info and password, there’s as much as a one-in-two chance that he can procure access to other secured accounts of the user.
• Not using special characters in passwords, which makes it easy to crack through.
• The answer to the security question (which people use when they forget their password) like birth date, pet’s name, is available openly in a social networking site.
• Not using secure connections while accessing sensitive information in unfamiliar computers or WiFi at public places. Over 86% were reported doing this blunder.
• Writing down the passwords and hiding them somewhere like a desk drawer.

These were few of the top mistakes committed by users while dealing with their passwords. If you find yourself committing in any of the above, its high time to correct it.