Indian citizens save passwords in unsafe manner: Survey

Mumbai: Nearly a sixth of Indians have been found storing important financial passwords in an unsafe manner, findings of a recent survey published on Tuesday showed. The survey found that around 17 per cent of those surveyed store important passwords of ATMs, debit or credit cards, bank accounts and app stores in an "unsafe" manner, including their contact list or as notes on the mobile phones making them highly vulnerable to data theft.

The survey by Localcircles consisted of over 48,000 respondents from 367 districts. It noted that 34 per cent of the respondents said they share their passwords with others. In May this year, the Reserve Bank had disclosed a 300 per cent rise in bank frauds in the last two years, Localcircles said in a statement. About two-thirds of those surveyed said they keep the important passwords with themselves while the rest 34 per cent said they share it, as per the survey. The respondents reported that a bulk of the password sharing happens with one or more family members, while some also share it with domestic or office staff, and friends, the survey said. The survey also said 53 per cent of the respondents have reported that either they themselves or someone in the immediate family have experienced a financial fraud in the last five years.