The alarm that the Swedes are careless when it comes to passwords is not new. Similar warnings have come from organizations, businesses, politicians and well-meaning acquaintances since the dawn of the Internet. So why is it so difficult to have different passwords for different logins?
“After all, it’s quite complicated to keep several passwords in your head,” he says Måns Jonasson and continues:
— They should ideally be complex passwords. And it seems relatively few use password managers or two-factor authentication, perhaps seen as yet another app to learn and manage.
They are the worst at secure passwords
The Internet Foundation, which is responsible for the .se domain on the internet, has conducted a survey in which 49 percent state that they use the same password on more than one account online. Among 18–34-year-olds, the figure is 64 percent.
– This has been talked about for a long time, everyone probably knows what to do. But at the same time we see that many people don’t want to answer at all, so there is a large number of people in the dark – and maybe a little shame, says Måns Jonasson.
The Internet Foundation wants to strike a blow for a newly launched Swedish version of the Internet classic “have i been pwned” – on the Internet Foundation’s homepage where it is possible to see if one’s email was included in a data leak.
How to strengthen your passwords
For those who want to strengthen themselves in the area of passwords, in addition to having various hard-to-crack passwords, it is necessary to use two-factor authentication. That means verifying every time you log in. In addition, a password manager, which collects your passwords in the background and remembers them for you, is a wise idea according to Måns Jonasson.
— It is much more secure than just a normal password. Also, remember not to give away more data than you need online.