One in 12 of them use their ex’s name as a password…
One in 20 young people admit to sharing passwords with people they’ve met through dating apps, according to a new study. The research, by Paddy Power Games, showed that youngsters certainly seem to take less care than they should online, finding that 5% of those aged 18-24 were willing to share their passwords with someone they’ve met romantically online.
It also found that one in 12 (8%) of 18-24-year-olds have not let go of their past lovers – admitting to still using their ex’s name as a password for their online accounts. The research showed how Gen Z tends to be less safe online compared to the rest of the population – only 39% say that they immediately change their password after a data breach – far less likely than the 56% of people who do this nationally.
Additionally, only 8% of 18–24-year-olds change their password once a month, with the national average being 12%, and one third (33%)of them only ever change their password when they forget it.
A spokesperson for Paddy Power Games:
“Whilst the ‘young adults’ claim to be the savviest generation, it seems they are a lot more careless online then they let on – giving their passwords away to strangers they want to date, and barely changing their passwords. Although scammers tend to have a stereotype of targeting old people, writing down their passwords, and using different unique passwords shows that they stay safer online than anyone else – maybe Gen Z should be the ones watching out!”
When looking at the most likely reasons to change their passwords, 11% of 18–24-year-olds said it was because they’ve shared it with a friend, and one in 12 (8%) said they changed their password after being spooked after having a dream that they were hacked. 5% said that they changed their combination because their password was their pet who had since passed away, and couldn’t bear the sadness of having to type it in.
The study also looked at what people thought the biggest threat to their online security. Interestingly, three in 10 (31%) young people said they are worried that they might get caught out by a phishing scam, second only to data breaches (36%).
One in five (20%) also said the biggest threat to them was meeting someone on a dating site who was lying about who they were – something that concerned just 9% of the rest of the country.
What 18-24-year-olds say the biggest threats to their online security are:
|
Rank
|
Threat
|
% of 18-24yos considering this a threat
|
|
1
|
Data breaches
|
36%
|
|
2
|
Phishing (scams/fake emails trying to steal your information)
|
31%
|
|
3
|
Malware
|
26%
|
|
4
|
Using public Wi-Fi networks
|
25%
|
|
5
|
Using the same password for multiple accounts
|
22%
|
|
=6
|
Sharing your password with others
|
20%
|
|
=6
|
Meeting people on dating sites who are not who they claim to be
|
20%
|
|
8
|
Weak passwords that are easy to guess
|
18%
|
|
9
|
Not changing your password regularly
|
17%
|
|
10
|
Myself – I take no care online
|
15%
|
Looking at other demographics, it seems that the older generation may indeed be wiser. While it may seem old fashioned, one in four of those aged over 55 say they write down all their passwords and store them in a notebook. They are also savvier with their passwords – just 3% of them use the same password for every account, compared to a huge 16% of 18-24-year-olds.
A spokesperson for Paddy Power Games:
“We at Paddy Power Games conducted the survey following the launch of our latest slot game, Paddy Power Password, which players can check out for themselves at: https://games.paddypower.com/game/password-ggg.”
