Time to strengthen your online passwords as it holds the key to your digital identity. Among Indian students, every second child uses a ‘weak passwords’ like ‘123456’ or ‘data of birth’ for their online accounts. Further, around 54.8 percent children share their password with their friends and family.
The WebWise survey conducted by Indian telecom operator Telenor India among school-going children in the country. During the study, the operator tries to learn about the password habits, internet usage and access patterns of this children. The survey is part of the recent WebWise survey on internet habits of Indian school children.
Some key facts from the study
- Around 98.8 percent of children in India’s urbanised areas have access to the internet. Also, 83.5 percent children aged between 6 to 18 years are active on social media like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
- Among the surveyed children, around 54.6 percent use ‘weak passwords’, That’s passwords with only alphabets or numbers and which are less than 8 characters.
- In addition, 54.82 percent children share their passwords with their friends, family or relatives.
Around 35 percent children said their account being hacked while 15.74 percent shared that they have received inappropriate messages.
Luckily, the majority of children are willing to approach their parents or teachers in case they experience any cyber harm. As part of the programme, Telenor India employees conduct workshops in schools to spread awareness on safe internet practices for students, teachers and parents.
How to create a strong password?
- Try to have minimum 12 characters for your password.
- Include numbers (e.g. 123 etc), symbols (e.g. @$), special characters (e.g. [<), upper (e.g. ABC) and lower case (e.g. abc).
- Should not contain your real name, username, date of birth etc.
- Does not contain a complete word.
- Use a different password for each website, apps and accounts.
- Change password in a fixed interval of 3 to 6 months time.
- Update your recovery email and mobile number regularly.
More than 55,000 individuals have been trained on safe internet practices. Post the WebWise workshops, 81.9 percent children said that they will reconsider to change their passwords and 84.26 percent children agreed that they will not share their passwords with anyone. Also, 72.26 percent of children said they will use a strong password which is a mix of alphabets, numbers, small and capital letters, symbols and special characters.