LONDON—A new study reveals that men are almost twice as likely as women to store passwords or PINs to credit cards, debit cards, online bank accounts and other online accounts on their smartphones, tablets and laptops.
The poor security practice opens up a person’s accounts to theft if hackers breach a smartphone, or if the phone is stolen.
The survey, jointly conducted by the U.K. division of Equifax and the London-based research firm Gorkana, questioned 500 British persons of all ages. The study found that 21% of male respondents stored passwords on their devices, compared to 11% of females, and that 14% of men stored their credit or debit card PIN numbers, as opposed to 7% of female respondents. (Most credit cards in Europe require a PIN.)
The report also found that more than one in five 18-24 year olds (21%) store PINs for credit or debit cards on their smartphones, tablets or laptops. Thirty-eight% of young adults also said they use their personal devices to store online passwords.
Across all age groups, 16% store passwords on personal devices, followed by PINs (10%), bank account number/sort codes (10%) and answers to security questions for online accounts (6%).