Even though easy-to-guess passwords are one of the weakest links in the cybersecurity chain, most people still “don’t see the point” in a password manager, and are happy to save their details elsewhere, a new, exclusive report from OnePulse shared with TechRadar Pro has found.
Gauging the opinions of 1,000 individuals on their password practices, the company found that more than a quarter (27%) don’t see the point in using a password manager. What’s more, another quarter (26%) would rather save their passwords elsewhere, meaning that roughly half of the respondents don’t use a password manager – at all.
Of those that do, roughly a fifth (20%) have downloaded a free password manager, or one that came bundled with other commercial software, while the remaining 27% decided to let their browser save and manage their passwords.
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Free version takes the crown
Of the 1,000 poll respondents, half (49%) have fewer than 100 passwords to manage, while 14% handle between 100 and 500. A significant portion (30%) did not want to give any specific numbers, but 6% said they needed to maintain as many as 500.
When it comes to paying for password management software, the respondents seem to be relatively tight-fisted. Most (47%) didn’t want to say how much they spent, but two in five (39%) decided to go for the free version. Roughly 4% each went to those paying around $2, those paying up to $6, and those paying more than $6.
There is consensus among cybersecurity experts that password managers are one of the essential tools of online security, right next to two-factor authentication (2FA) solutions, or biometrics.
These tools are capable of generating strong passwords easily, notifying users when it’s time to change them, and storing them in a secure environment. Most of them are also cross-platform, allowing users access on different devices including PCs, mobile phones, and tablets.