Using the same password everywhere

[[email protected]]

Less than a second – this is how long it takes a clever hacker to crack the password “qazwsxedc”. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to avoid bad password habits in order to protect all your online accounts. To help you identify them, we have compiled a list of bad password habits. Unfortunately, 2021 statistics indicate that “123456” once again topped the list of the most commonly used passwords worldwide. Needless to say, if it takes less than 1 second to crack a password like “qazwsxedc”, then cracking any other account protected by this bad password would be a piece of cake. So, what are the practices to avoid when choosing a password?

Mailfence - Get your free and secure email.


4.1 based on 177 user reviews

Register
An infographic that highlights the top benin whatsapp number data 5 million 5 bad habits when choosing passwords for an online account.
A list of bad password habits
1 –
Analysts estimate that around 50% of people who surf the internet use the same password for all their logins. This is one of the riskiest things you can do on the internet. It's only a matter of time before one (or more) of your accounts is compromised.

If you use the same password on multiple websites, it only takes one breach on any one of them for a hacker to gain access to all of your other online accounts. This could be an online store where you've entered your credit card information, your PayPal account, or any other account associated with your money.



Alternatively, the hacker could gain access to an account where you have entered particularly sensitive information. Access to one of your accounts could also allow them to impersonate you and post hateful messages on social media to harm you.

2 – Not updating your passwords
When was the last time you updated your passwords? If you haven't already, then now is the time. It might be useful to change them, say, once a year - this way you can prevent any breaches of your accounts from going unnoticed if your service provider experiences a data breach or security breach (however, this practice will only be useful if you set a long and complex password, which does not contain parts or variations of a previous password).