Information technology Majority of internet users use passwords multiple times
The increasing number of logins in everyday digital life means that the majority of internet users use passwords for different online services. In a representative survey, 50 percent of respondents said they would do so.
29.04.2025, 09:03
SDA
In the survey for the e-mail providers Web.de and GMX, a further seven percent stated that they used the same password for all logins. However, this harbors considerable risks.
"If such a password is hacked for just one online service, online criminals can use it to log in to many other websites simply by trying it out and, for example, make purchases at the expense of their victims or misuse the data in other ways," warned the email providers on Tuesday.
A third of respondents (32 percent) therefore already use passwordless authentication via passkey - a login via biometric data or device ID, an identifier that is assigned to a device. And six out of ten respondents (61%) said they would be prepared to use passkeys for particularly important services or even for all services.
Desire for multi-factor authentication
When it comes to online accounts, 56% would like support from companies and advocate mandatory or at least more frequent multi-factor authentication. These are technologies in which the login is protected with another factor in addition to the password, for example with a biometric fingerprint or a notification on the smartphone.
According to the survey, this desire is particularly high for email accounts (30 percent), online shopping accounts (28 percent) and cloud storage (21 percent).
The market research company Bilendi surveyed a total of 1121 German internet users aged 18 and over on behalf of Web.de and GMX in April. May 1 is World Password Day.
