It pains us at LastPass to see this statistic. Yes, 70% of us forgot a password in the past month, according to a recent survey by Symantec that polled 1,028 adults in the last month. On top of forgetting a password, 40% of those surveyed also admitted that remembering their passwords is one of the most difficult challenges of their daily life - more stressful than balancing their checkbook!
It's true, managing a growing amount of data has become an inconvenient reality of modern life. We live in a world where technology is becoming more and more integrated into all aspects of our everyday lives. Which means we use an ever-increasing number of online accounts, apps, and services, all of which require usernames and details for us to keep track of. We also need our data in more places than ever - on our computers at home and at work, on our smartphones and tablets.
We know that the stress of remembering passwords and other online account details leads us to follow bad password management practices, such as:
- Using the same password(s) everywhere,
- Using variations of the same password(s),
- Using personally identifiable information, such as pet names, birth dates, or nicknames, as passwords,
- Storing account information on notes around the desk or office, or taped under the keyboard, and
- Keeping default logins, such as "admin" and "password", enabled on our systems.
- What motivated you to start using a password manager, and how did you make your selection?
- Do you have a story about using LastPass that would be motivating to others? If so, send it along to press[at]lastpass[dot]com.