The Password is …

The problem is magnified by the fact that users tend to have the same password for many different accounts. Multiple studies show that upwards of 50 percent of individuals use the same password for all or most of their login accounts, including work, online merchant accounts, banking applications and social networking sites. This is dangerous for a number of reasons. Crime rings, for example, use social networking and other sites with relatively weak security to crack passwords. Sites without velocity checks to detect automated scripts or botnets are repeatedly exploited until valid credentials are discovered. Once passwords are ascertained on these weaker sites, the credentials can be used to gain access to numerous other sites.