Following the success of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Christmas shopping season is now fully underway, but the online shopping splurge is not over yet. Over half of Europeans plan to buy their gifts online this Christmas, yet many are struggling to cope with the complex password rules posed by online retailers, according to new research from Kaspersky Lab.
Research conducted by Opinion Way on behalf of Kaspersky Lab reveals that 52 percent of Europeans plan to purchase the majority of their gifts online this Christmas. The trend for digital shopping is particularly prevalent in the UK (66 percent), followed closely by Germany (60 percent), Italy (51 percent) and Spain (50 percent). On the other hand, adoption appeared to be lagging behind in France (35 percent) and the Netherlands (34 percent), with only a third inclined to shop online this Christmas.
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Yet, despite its increasing popularity, the convenience of online shopping is still being compounded by concerns around password complexity. According to the research, nearly half of Europeans (47 percent) think that password rules on websites make it difficult to remember passwords, illustrating the frustrations of managing multiple passwords for various sites. The French and the Dutch are most likely to negatively consider password rules (53 percent and 51 percent respectively), which could explain the lack of enthusiasm to buy gifts online this holiday season.
With this complexity in mind, it’s no surprise that over half of Europeans (55 percent) have to reset their online passwords at least once a month and 14 percent every week. Perhaps more worryingly, eight percent need to reset their password every time they shop online, which has a significant impact on the convenience and appeal of online shopping for consumers. As a result, one third of Europeans (34 percent) believe that passwords are inconvenient, despite the fact that they are often considered to be the padlock protecting our digital lives.
“With over half of us expected to do our Christmas shopping online, retail is no longer about ‘bricks and mortar’; it’s about ‘click and order.’ But as shopping from the comfort of our own homes becomes the norm, it’s very important to ensure that our online shopping experience is a safe and secure,” comments David Emm, Principal Security Researcher, Kaspersky Lab.
“Passwords are often our first line of defence when it comes to protecting online transactions, but the problem is there’s always a trade-off between security and convenience. With complicated password rules to adhere to and multiple login details to remember, many consumers are struggling to remember their passwords, so it’s clear they need a better way to streamline this process,” concludes Emm.
To help consumers remove the complexity from password management, Kaspersky Lab recently announced the launch of Kaspersky Total Security – Multi-Device, a security solution for protecting individuals and Windows platforms, OS X, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Kaspersky Total Security – Multi-Device includes Kaspersky Password Manager, which generates secure passwords[1] for the user’s personal accounts and applications, and stores them in an encrypted form to protect against unauthorised access.
With Kaspersky Password Manager, consumers need only remember one master password, eliminating the challenges of remembering multiple login details. This data is synchronised on all the owner’s devices be it Windows, Mac, Android or iOS, providing simplified and secure sign in for websites and applications.
[1] Currently password generation is only available for Windows OS
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