How Good Are Kids at Making Passwords?
NIST researchers surveyed kids in 3rd – 12th grade about their password knowledge and practices. What did we find? Watch this video to find out. (We’ll give you a hint: They know what are considered password best practices, but their actions don’t always adhere to this knowledge.)
When it comes to passwords, the challenges are endless. We must create multiple passwords to manage our many online accounts, from email to shopping sites and social media profiles. We have to safely keep track of these many passwords and ensure they’re strong enough to reduce the risk of cyberattacks. All of these reasons emphasize why education and training are so important for strengthening passwords and protecting personal accounts.
The problem isn’t limited to just adults. Children may seem more technologically savvy because they’ve grown up in the digital space, but they still face the same cybersecurity threats. So, to shed light on what kids understand about passwords and their behavior in creating and using them, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted a study that surveyed kids from third to 12th grade.
The study found that children are learning best practices, such as memorizing passwords, but are demonstrating a gap between their knowledge of good password practices and their behavior. The NIST researchers present their findings today at a virtual cybersecurity conference called USENIX Security Symposium 2021.
According to recent data from the Pew Research Center, more than one-third of parents with a child younger than 12 say their child began interacting with a smartphone before the age of 5, and 67% of parents say their ch ..
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