More Complicated than Remembering your Kids’ Birthdays

Researchers in England have found that the average person uses up to ten passwords a day, according to a report in The Telegraph.  One in three people write them down while another one in three forgets them entirely.

The multitude of passwords may be more than a nuisance, however; having a lackadaisical attitude towards your passwords can cause a serious problem. Martin Ott, co-CEO of Skrill, the firm which commissioned the research, told the Telegraph, “Passwords, pins and codes go a long way to help protect people.”

The research found that over half of Brits admit to using the same password for everything. Most often the passwords are something simple, like the name of a pet (12%), date of birth (10%) or your mother’s maiden name (9%). However, Ott says generic passwords are too easy for experienced hackers to figure out.

Many sites require the use of a password these days, but some sites are notoriously more picky about password selection than others. The majority of people struggle with internet banking details (18%) and think these are the hardest to remember. Passwords requested by shopping sites (16%) and those needed to get into work computers (7%) were also singled out for being hard to remember.