As much of our day-to-day lives migrate into the digital realm, the need to secure our personal data, both online and on mobile devices, has become blindingly obvious. High-profile data breaches in 2014 have shown there is growing public demand for Internet giants, retailers and other online service providers to offer an increased level of protection for their users’ accounts. A simple way of achieving this is by introducing two-factor authentication, which in light of recent hacking attempts has grown in popularity.
Enhanced account security couldn’t come at a better time. Recent research shows that 60 percent of people use the same username and password combination for all their online accounts, from social networking to online banking. Therefore, if hackers can get their hands on a set of login details for one website, it is likely those same details will work in a number of other places. However, given the wealth of Internet-based services we now rely upon, and the sheer number of accounts we hold (according to Experian, 26 different online accounts per person on average), it’s hardly a surprise that the same password is being used time and time again.