Good news comes to everyone in Providence, except for those trying to break into computers, as Rhode Islanders lead the country when it comes to password security.
A study conducted by Casino.org released this fall analyzed the “prevailing password practices” of American citizens across the country. Among these practices are the use of auto-generated passwords, how frequently their password is updated, whether passwords are reused across several accounts and the number of characters used for their primary passwords.
Poster printing services are sometimes engaged to remind employees about good business practices including cybersecurity.
A score was given to each state based on the responses of 2,000 individuals. Not all states received a score, due to insufficient data gathered. Among the undated states were Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nebraska and others.
Rhode Island, the only state to receive a perfect score, had only 12.5 of the state’s respondents utilizing a single password for several accounts, a practice frowned upon by cybersecurity professionals. Half of Rhode Islanders use auto-generated passwords, considered a safer alternative than personally chosen ones, and 12.5 switch passwords every few months.
Coming second best was Louisiana, with a score of 83.6, followed by Maine, Maryland and New Mexico.
At the bottom of the rankings were Wisconsin with a score of 0, and Oklahoma a close second with a score of 1. Scoring almost as poorly on password security were Mississippi, Alabama, and Nevada, with 1.8, 3.9 and 6.3 respectively.
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