Cyber security experts warn some of the country is in need of online password education after a survey revealed more than a quarter of Britons reuse up to five passwords across all their financial accounts and one in five admitted to writing them down.
Just two-fifths of Britons follow recommended guidance in setting different passwords for all their bank accounts, research from credit scoring firm Fico shows.
It shows that 5 per cent use one password to access all of their accounts online.
Having to remember passwords for every account can be confusing, even if it’s what experts recommend. But are there other ways to avoid constantly locking yourself out?
Jake Moore, a cyber security specialist at anti-virus provider ESET, said: ‘This research suggest that people really are in need of some password education.
‘If account holders are using the same password more than once they are at serious risk of being compromised.
‘When people say they use separate passwords, changing the number on the end doesn’t count; hackers are clever enough to check social media to get a head start into figuring it out if they are persistent enough.’
Writing all your passwords down is considered a bad idea, especially if they are all in one spot.
But despite this, alphabetical password organisers are easy to find and buy on websites like Amazon.
However, Moore added that writing them down on a piece of paper ‘is okay if it is safely secured at home and never taken out of the house.’
There are constant calls from experts that people need to have different passwords all the time, change them frequently and make them all unique, all without writing them down, some may think that is simply unfeasible.
More than a quarter of those surveyed in the UK said they used five or fewer passwords, less secure than Germany or the US but a fewer percentage of people than some other countries
How else could you stay safe?
Experts suggested two different ways of getting around this.
The first, which Moore advocates, is to use a password manager, where you need to remember only one password and it keeps all the rest encrypted and stored for you.
The two best known ones are 1Password, recommended by Troy Hunt, a cyber security expert and the founder of data breach registry ‘HaveIBeenPwned’, which costs money, and Bitwarden, which doesn’t.
If account holders are using the same password more than once they are at serious risk of being compromised.
Jake Moore – cyber security expert
Moore said: ‘Many people think that putting all their passwords in one place on the cloud will make them somewhat more vulnerable to attack.
‘However, it’s the opposite that is true, and password managers should not be feared.
‘The clever use of two factor authentication and robust encryption are a far stronger mix than using the same few passwords.
‘You no longer need to reuse any passwords on accounts, nor use memorable facts such as your dog’s name, or your kid’s birthday.
‘Since the password manager takes care of the remembering part, every password can be a long, unique, totally random collection of characters.
‘The strength is in complex length so brute-force password crackers would simply take too long.’
Password books like this one are easy to find online, even if keeping a book of all your passwords is often advised against due to the fact everything could be at risk if it is lost
The other is biometric authorisation, which FICO’s research found some support for.
Seven in 10 said they’d accept their bank analysing the way they held their phone or typed in their password, and nearly half said they would be happy to use a fingerprint to log into their online banking app.
However, there was less support for facial recognition or logging in using a voiceprint, although an increasing number of banks offer the latter and have seen thousands of customers sign up.
Charlie Barton, from comparison site Finder, said: ‘Those who do not feel comfortable make themselves vulnerable by not embracing the technology. Writing down passwords or, worse, having the same password for everything, is much less safe than fingerprint or face ID.
‘This leaves consumers in the awkward position of feeling at ease with a weaker security system, or feeling uncomfortable with a stronger one.’
He called on the financial industry to help people become more comfortable using what he said was more secure biometric authorisation, and added: ‘it isn’t feasible for customers to be expected to keep unique passwords for everything and write them all down on scraps of paper, especially when online services are only growing.
‘For now, consumers can only embrace the technology as much as they feel happy with, while remaining vigilant.’
The Fico research, which surveyed 5,000 people across 10 countries, did find Britons were more secure than people in other nations including Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey, Sweden and the Philippines.
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