Here’s what you had to say.
People like to hack things. If you don’t change your passwords often to protect your information, you’re putting yourself (and your company) at risk.
But changing passwords and keeping up with them is tough. And, honestly, more than a little annoying.
To find out whether our readers are changing their passwords enough, we put out a two-question survey earlier this month. Here are your responses:
How often do you change the passwords for your work devices (computer, mobile, phone, apps, etc.)?
Only when I’m told to: 49%
Quarterly: 24%
Monthly: 12%
Every 6 months: 5%
I never change my work passwords: 4%
When I’m notified that my account is compromised: 3%
Yearly: 1%
Weekly: 1%
Daily: 1 person (not percent, only one respondent changes their password daily)
Ok, so nearly half of you only change passwords when your employer tells you to. That’s fair; how else would you know that your password needs changing? Twenty-four percent of people change passwords quarterly, while 12% change passwords every month.
Our second question was: Have you ever had a password-protected account “hacked?”
No: 76%
Yes: 24%
Twenty-four percent may not seem like a lot, but that’s a pretty significant number. When it’s your work account being hacked, it isn’t just your personal photos and social media posts that are at risk; your identity or your company’s private information could be stolen.
If it’s your identity that gets stolen, you’ll have to cancel all your credit cards, open new bank accounts, and a whole bunch of other things. It’s a major headache.
And if company information is stolen? That could lead to security leaks, the competition stealing company ideas, or, in a worst-case scenario, unsavory individuals getting access to private employee information.
To avoid all that, follow a few best practices for passwords. Update at least once a month, and make sure to use complicated passwords (at least 14 characters, a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, at least one number and punctuation sign, etc.) It’s a little bit of work in the short term to prevent long-term headaches.
How do you go about choosing a password? Let us know in the comments section below!
