Do Americans (Really) Care About Password Security?

Just how cautious are Americans when it comes to cybersecurity?

In today’s hyper-connected, highly-digitized society, data breaches are becoming increasingly commonplace. And they affect both corporations and individuals. In 2017 alone, the Equifax breach — considered by some to be the worst security breach in recent history — put 145.5 million Americans at risk of exposed information and identity theft.

Additionally, a Gmail phishing attack last year put 1 million users at risk of exposed information, and an Instagram hack revealed the contact information of 6 million users. Yahoo also revealed that a 2013 data breach affected the private information associated with all of their users — 3 billion in total.

According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Americans have experienced some type of data breach in their lifetime. Despite this, the center found that the majority of Americans fail to follow cybersecurity best practices in their own digital lives.

In an effort to uncover more on password security habits (and associated feelings of cybersecurity), we put these numbers to the test. Read on to discover what we found after surveying 1,000 Americans.

Americans and Password Security

While cyberattacks are top-of-mind for many Americans, first-hand experiences and worry about imminent attacks doesn’t seem to get people to change their digital habits.

Despite the Pew Research Center’s report that the majority of Americans have personally experienced a major data breach and even anticipate an attack within the next five years, the majority of adults surveyed still seem largely unconcerned with personal password safety.

The most common reason users change their passwords is because they’ve simply forgotten their current one. Half of people surveyed cited this as the most common reason to change a password. In contrast, despite the increasing amount of hacks in the news cycle, only 1 in 5 Americans said they change their password as a result of a hack in the news.

Infographic courtesy of Varonis.com