Survey finds Brits left exposed by weak online passwords. Brits often use passwords containing birthdays, pet names or simple strings. Visit GMX: http://gmx.co.uk

1. STUDY ON PASSWORD
SECURITY
Conducted by Convios Consulting GmbH on behalf of GMX

2. Q1: How do you normally generate/create your passwords?
2
43%
12%
8%
11%
30%
I use personal
information such as
birthdays, names (e.g.
of pets) or car number
plates to create
passwords or choose
easy to remember letter
or number sequences
such as 123456
With the sentence
method (first letters of a
sentence that you can
remember)
With a password
generator
Other I'd rather not say
Global Average

3. Q1: How do you normally generate/create your passwords?
3
44%
13%
8%
11%
28%
I use personal
information such as
birthdays, names (e.g.
of pets) or car number
plates to create
passwords or choose
easy to remember letter
or number sequences
such as 123456
With the sentence
method (first letters of a
sentence that you can
remember)
With a password
generator
Other I'd rather not say
European Average

4. Q1: How do you normally generate/create your passwords?
4
I use personal
information such as
birthdays, names
(e.g. of pets) or car
number plates to
create passwords or
choose easy to
remember letter or
number sequences
such as 123456
With the sentence
method (first letters
of a sentence that
you can remember)
With a password
generator
Other I'd rather not say
UK 35% 9% 6% 10% 44%
USA 33% 9% 6% 11% 45%
France 54% 15% 8% 7% 20%
Germany 43% 16% 9% 12% 26%
Spain 51% 13% 9% 13% 20%
Austria 42% 11% 7% 13% 31%
Switzerland 41% 14% 9% 13% 28%
Country Average

5. Q2: Which of the following characters/elements do your passwords contain?
5
Global Average
43%
40%
37%
14%
9%
29%
20%
Numbers Lower case
letters
Upper case
letters
Special
characters
Punctuation
marks
All of these
elements
I'd rather not say

6. Q2: Which of the following characters/elements do your passwords contain?
6
European Average
45%
42%
38%
14%
9%
28%
18%
Numbers Lower case
letters
Upper case
letters
Special
characters
Punctuation
marks
All of these
elements
I'd rather not say

7. Q2: Which of the following characters/elements do your passwords contain?
7
Numbers
Lower case
letters
Upper case
letters
Special
characters
Punctuation
marks
All of these
elements
I'd rather not
say
UK 42% 37% 37% 10% 7% 22% 30%
USA 34% 32% 30% 15% 9% 33% 26%
France 47% 44% 39% 13% 7% 29% 10%
Germany 44% 42% 39% 16% 13% 32% 18%
Spain 43% 41% 34% 11% 7% 31% 13%
Austria 49% 47% 40% 15% 9% 26% 19%
Switzerland 43% 40% 38% 17% 11% 28% 20%
Country Average

8. Q3: On average, how often do you change the passwords for your most important
services (e-mail, social media, online shopping, online banking)?
8
Global Average
15%
31%
16%
19%
19%
Never
Every 6 months
Once a year
Less than once a year
Don't know

9. 9
European Average
Q3: On average, how often do you change the passwords for your most important
services (e-mail, social media, online shopping, online banking)?
31%
16%
19%
16%
19%
Every 6 months
Once a year
Less than once a year
Never
Don't know

10. 10
Q3: On average, how often do you change the passwords for your most important
services (e-mail, social media, online shopping, online banking)?
UK USA France Germany Spain Austria Switzerland
Every 6 months 34% 38% 30% 37% 32% 26% 24%
Once a year 13% 16% 15% 15% 17% 19% 17%
Less than once a year 19% 17% 18% 19% 17% 22% 20%
Never 14% 9% 21% 10% 19% 13% 19%
Don't know 20% 20% 17% 19% 16% 21% 20%
Country Average

11. 11
Global Average
Q4: Which statement applies to you?
9%
18%
43%
20%
11%
I use one password for all services
I use one password for most services
I use several individual passwords for
some services
I use an individual password for each
service
I'd rather not say

12. 12
European Average
Q4: Which statement applies to you?
9%
19%
43%
20%
9%
I use one password for all services
I use one password for most services
I use serveral individual passwords for
some services
I use an individual password for each
service
I'd rather not say

13. 13
Q4: Which statement applies to you?
UK USA France Germany Spain Austria Switzerland
I use one password for all services 5% 6% 10% 8% 14% 7% 11%
I use one password for most services 14% 13% 24% 12% 22% 19% 20%
I use several individual passwords for some
services
45% 39% 43% 46% 38% 45% 42%
I use an individual password for each
service
21% 23% 15% 26% 22% 18% 17%
I'd rather not say 14% 19% 7% 8% 5% 10% 10%
Country Average

14. 14
Global Average
Q5: Where do you usually store your password(s)?
67%
15%
9%
6%
3%
10%
I remember it On a piece of paper I use a password
manager
I save it in the
browser
Other I'd rather not say

15. 15
European Average
Q5: Where do you usually store your password(s)?
68%
15%
9%
6%
3%
9%
I remember it On a piece of paper I use a password
manager
I save it in the
browser
Other I'd rather not say

16. 16
Country Average
Q5: Where do you usually store your password(s)?
UK USA France Germany Spain Austria Switzerland
I remember it 69% 58% 70% 65% 75% 67% 63%
On a piece of paper 7% 15% 18% 18% 15% 17% 17%
I use a password manager 7% 9% 8% 9% 6% 8% 13%
I save it in the browser 3% 5% 8% 7% 6% 6% 4%
Other 2% 3% 2% 4% 2% 4% 5%
I'd rather not say 16% 18% 5% 9% 5% 9% 9%

17. 17
Gender Average
Q5: Where do you usually store your password(s)?
M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
USA UK France Spain Germany Austria Switzerland
I remember it 56% 59% 64% 74% 66% 73% 75% 75% 62% 68% 64% 69% 62% 63%
On a piece of paper 16% 15% 8% 7% 18% 18% 13% 17% 19% 18% 17% 18% 16% 19%
I use a password manager 12% 5% 10% 3% 12% 5% 9% 4% 11% 7% 12% 5% 17% 9%
I save it in the browser 5% 5% 6% 1% 9% 7% 7% 4% 8% 6% 7% 5% 6% 3%
Other 4% 3% 3% 1% 2% 2% 3% 1% 4% 3% 5% 3% 6% 4%
I'd rather not say 16% 20% 15% 17% 5% 6% 5% 5% 9% 10% 7% 10% 6% 13%

18.  Convios Consulting GmbH analyses the communication behaviour of
internet users for GMX since 2009. For the displayed study 1000 people
per country were surveyed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France,
Spain, UK and USA.
About GMX
GMX (Global Message Exchange) is one of the most successful internet
services in Europe with more than 20 million active users in Austria, France,
Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland. GMX offers private
and professional users powerful and secure mail, messaging and cloud
solutions online at http://gmx.co.uk. GMX focuses on easy to use products,
state of the art internet security and customer privacy with its data center
located in Europe. GMX is a member of United Internet, Europe’s leading
internet specialist.
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