59 percent of consumers reuse passwords

We all know that we shouldn't reuse passwords across multiples sites, but that doesn't stop a majority of us from doing it.

A new survey for password manager Password Boss shows that 59 percent of consumers reuse passwords because it's too hard to remember them. Yet memory is the most common means of managing passwords, used by 63 percent, with only eight percent using some form of password manager.

Males age 34-44 are the most likely to report using a password management product (17 percent), significantly higher than males either 18-34 (who may not have as many passwords to manage yet) or 45-54 (who may not be as immersed in technology).

People also seem to be suffering from data breach fatigue, offering various reasons why they hadn't bothered to change their passwords after a breach. A high percentage of people also share their passwords with their family.

"The results from the survey indicate that, in general, consumers are very passive and somewhat contradictory when it comes to the management of their online account passwords, despite the increasingly large and disruptive impact that data breaches have on consumers' lives," says Password Boss founder and CEO Steve Wise. "The fact that most consumers really have no system to manage their accounts other than memory or pen and paper suggests these methods are easier than any tool available. Our mission is to help consumers change their password habits with the easiest-to-use app for anyone that has trouble remembering their passwords".

You can find more about the report on the Password Boss blog and there's a summary of the findings -- including a handy list of animals that are better equipped to remember passwords than we are -- in infographic form below.

Photo credit: shutteratakan / Shutterstock