Most Indians share personal passwords with partners: Study

McAfee released findings from a recent India study, “Three’s Company: Lovers, Friends and Devices,” that aims to understand the online behaviour of people and how it affects their real-world relationships with friends and significant others. The study underscores the need for individuals to manage device usage during social interactions and calls for vigilance while sharing personal information.

“In today’s connected lifestyle, daily activities and interactions of consumers are powered by technology and apps. This insatiable dependency for technology can come at the price of sharing our personal information with the unknown. We need to be aware about the reality of oversharing and take corrective measures.” said Venkat Krishnapur, Vice President of Engineering and Managing Director, McAfee.

Key findings from the McAfee study:

Connected Devices > First Date

Three in four Indians (75 per cent) indicated that they have had to compete for the attention of their date with their device. The constant device usage actions don’t halt after the first date. In fact, more than half (49 per cent) of adults (between 21-40 years) indicated that it happened even more than twice.

Keep your devices close but your relationships even closer!

Love is in the air, and so are our connected devices. 77 per cent of the people in India think that the use of technology gets in the way of relationships today. 81 per cent of the people in India indicate that they got into an argument with a friend, family member or significant other for being on their phone too much when they spend time together. 70 per cent find it very (40 per cent) or somewhat (30 per cent) important to disclose their relationship on social media. Dating apps make it easy to make connections on the go. More than half (58per cent) think that dating apps/websites are more effective at helping people find a date than friends and family are.

All is fair in love and tech

While most couples say vows to their significant other at the altar, many consumers today are adapting this same level of commitment to their smartphones instead. Two in three Indians (67 per cent) in a relationship have felt that their significant other was more interested in their Internet-connected device than in them. When it comes to setting parameters around device usage, 32 per cent of Indians say they do not set rules about device usage when together. Only about one in five (20 per cent) claim that they set strict limitations about Internet connected device use when with their significant other. Nearly half of Indians (45 per cent) indicated that they have spied on their significant other’s social media accounts or connected devices.

Sharing is Caring!

Though 89 per cent Indians think privacy is important in a relationship, 84 per cent also share their personal passwords and PINs with their partners:

Online shopping websites – 60 per cent

Social media accounts – 45 per cent

Streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) – 42 per cent

Personal email accounts – 41 per cent

Banking and financial services websites – 38 per cent

Work specific devices/accounts – 38 per cent

Shockingly only 16 per cent of the people indicate that they don’t or wouldn’t share any passwords or PINs with their significant other. 39 per cent indicate that they have/would allow their significant other to use their work device(s) (e.g. laptop, smartphone, work email).

Protecting what matters the most

89 per cent indicate that they would be concerned if their significant other did not take the necessary steps to protect their personal information. 76 per cent take the necessary steps to ensure their personal information is protected on their connected devices.

Tips:

When it comes to protecting devices, here are a few tips to help consumers stay safe in their “love affair” all year long:

At Last…I can protect what matters. Your home network is where everything happens. It’s time to take control. Security solutions help you easily manage and protect devices connected to the home network while providing controls with permissions that can be tailored to the entire household.  

L-O-V-E is great, just don’t use it as your password. Long passwords are always better than short ones. Include numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters, as well as symbols. Even better, use a password management tool to help you store and create complex passwords, and enable multi-factor authentication on your devices and online accounts. Anytime you can use multiple login steps with your accounts, take advantage of it.

Be careful with my heart…and what you store on your devices. Take the time to remove unnecessary personal information from your devices that could compromise your security. The fewer information cybercriminals have access to, the better.

Can’t take my eyes off of you. We love our devices but it’s important to disconnect every now and then to spend time with the important people in our lives like friends and family. Your social networks and mobile games will be right there waiting for you when you get back.