Weak passwords were one of the most common cybersecurity vulnerabilities in 2019, and caused 30% of ransomware infections that occurred throughout the year.
Research rom PreciseSecurity.com has revealed that phishing scams caused more than 67% of 2019’s ransomware infections around the world. Another 36% of Mail Protection Service (MPS) users reported ransomware attacks due to a lack of cyber security training. Weak passwords were the third most common reason for ransomware infections.
The 30% share in the combined number of ransomware infections during the last years indicates that the level of password security awareness remains a high concern. The 2019 Google survey about beliefs and behaviours around online security showed that more than 30% of users recycle the same password across multiple accounts.
More than 50% of those polled admitted using a ‘favourite’ password for most of their accounts. Only some 33% of survey respondents knew how to define the password manager.
Breach analysis has indicated that 23.2m victim accounts from all parts of the world used ‘123456’ as a password, PreciseSecurity.com reports. Another 7.8m data breach victims chose a ‘12345678’ password. More than 3.5 million people globally picked up the word “password” to protect access to their sensitive information.
More information: