Online Security: Talk, No Action

Americans truly know they need to protect themselves when they are online, the problem is they do very little about it, a new study said.

In the study, 41 percent of respondents shared their online account passwords with friends and family members, which is pretty much the first thing you should not do, according to the research from the Pew Research Center conducted on 1,040 users in the U.S.

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Another 39 percent said they use the same password or very similar passwords for most of their online accounts. This puts them at high risk should one of the accounts end up hacked or if a hacker infiltrates one of the services they use.

One-quarter of those interviewed admitted the passwords they use are weaker than they’d like, but they are so because they’re easier to remember.

Having said that, about half of Americans believe their personal information is less secure now than it was five years ago. This is in direct correlation with the fact Americans lack faith in various public and private institutions to protect their data.

The survey reveals 64 percent of U.S. adults have suffered from different types of data theft. For instance, 41 percent discovered fraudulent charges on their credit cards, while 35 percent learned some information ended up compromised. Another 16 percent admit their email accounts ended up taken over, while 13 percent said the same about their social media accounts.

When it comes to mobile security, 28 percent said they don’t even have a lock screen on their phone or any other security feature to stop others from accessing their devices. The use of unsecured public WiFi networks is also extremely high, with 54 percent of users picking these over their data plans.

Click here to download the survey.