Personal Finance News
Aura Survey Highlights Online Security Habits of Americans
A new survey shares some insights into how Americans manage their online passwords — and what types of personal information/data they most worry about leaking.
About the survey:
Online security platform Aura has released the results of a new study. The survey itself was conducted by The Harris Poll, with participation from 2,099 adults in the United States.
Starting with password practices, 95% of those surveyed said they have a system in place for cataloging and remembering passwords. However, only 6% of respondents utilize a password manager for generating new passwords. Overall, 35% of people write their passwords down in a notebook or on a piece of paper. This practice was also most common among Baby Boomers (47%) and least popular with Gen Zers (26%). Nearly one-quarter (24%) of Americans admitted that they largely rotate between only a few different passwords for all of their apps and accounts.
Aura’s survey also inquired about various hacking and compromised account concerns. The top responses involved credit card numbers and Social Security numbers, with 76% of respondents reporting that they worry about either leaking. Not far behind, 72% said they worried about having their email password compromised. Meanwhile, 51% of Gen Xers and 42% of Baby Boomers said they were concerned about their cloud data being hacked.
A couple of generational divides in regard to hacking concerns were also highlighted. For example, while 80% of Baby Boomers were worried about their Social Security number being compromised, only two-thirds of Zoomers said the same. Additionally, although only 46% of overall respondents shared concerns about their own explicit material leaking, this rose to 80% among Gen Zers and Millennials.
Lastly, Aura’s poll found that only 29% of respondents delete unused apps from their phones at least once a month. As the company notes, this could be a source of concern as neglected applications are associated with higher security risks.
My thoughts:
Although the topics covered in this survey may not be directly related to personal finance, the practices featured can certainly impact finances. Most obviously, having your online banking passwords compromised could have devastating consequences. Short of that, though, credit card numbers and other personal data could be revealed from numerous other platforms that Americans use and trust on a daily basis. Because of this, it’s worth taking the time to learn and implement best practices when it comes to password management and other cyber security.
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