The country is heading back to school and for college students, Cybersecurity 101 is in session. Dashlane, the leading password manager, is educating college students on the importance of protecting their digital identities and today announced a free, one-year subscription for its award-winning Premium service to all U.S.-based students and professors with a valid .edu email address. All current and incoming students can visit Dashlane.com/students to sign up and ensure that their passwords, credit cards, and identities stay safe and protected online, whether on or off campus.
Have Students Studied Passwords?
It’s not just our favorite celebrities or websites that get hacked. Students and their educational institutions are uniquely vulnerable to cyberattacks and protecting passwords is the first line of defense. Furthermore, students may be prone to risky behaviors like oversharing on social media, password reuse, or sharing passwords between friends. Dashlane recently reached out to students from leading American universities, (including Brown, Colgate, Georgetown, Harvard, The University of Southern California, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, among others) to learn more about their online habits and security, and found that:
• Freshman 50: Almost half (48%) of students contacted are aware that they have already been hacked or compromised at some point. These are some of the top university students who grew up with technology, but are still left vulnerable without the right tools and information.
o What’s more, most students said they have more than three devices, making it even more imperative that they be able to log in and gain access to accounts securely across each of them.
• Campus Crawl…ing with Passwords: A separate Harris Poll commissioned by Dashlane found that younger Americans are consistently more trusting/trusted with sharing email and streaming service passwords – 64% of millennials (aged 18-34) admit to sharing or receiving passwords (vs. 37% of those 35+).
• GPA (Good Password Actions):
o Students seem to know better than to save passwords in their browsers – only 35% of those polled said they do it most of the time.
o They also know password length matters – nearly 75% go above and beyond traditional requirements and use more than 9 characters, and a lot actually go 13+ characters.
• Senioritis: Dashlane research shows that the average American has 150 accounts – all of which require strong, unique passwords. Unfortunately, students are reusing passwords like crazy: at least 73% of respondents said they do not have unique passwords for every account.
“Our hope is that everyone uses a password manager, especially students at this time of year as they settle into school physically and digitally, since young people as a demographic have more online accounts to keep track of than ever before,” said Emmanuel Schalit, CEO of Dashlane. “We hope that this promotion not only teaches students how they can safely manage their online lives, but also help them save money to spend on necessities, like ramen and books.”
Crash-Course: Dashlane Cybersecurity 101
• Be cautious when using public Wi-Fi networks and devices. When using the computers in the library or connecting to public Wifi at a coffee shop, avoid logging in to sensitive online accounts, like an online banking account and your social media accounts.
• Look out for “phishy” activity. If you get an email, direct message, or a text message with a link or attachment from a person or service you don’t know, delete it. If you know the sender, verify that message is legitimate before clicking a link or downloading an attachment.
• Try not to overshare on social media. Be careful not to share posts that could reveal personally identifiable information like your street address, where you work, or any information commonly used as an account verification question. If you’re headed out of town for a weekend getaway or fall break, share posts about your trip after you return, rather than while you are away.
• Protect your online accounts and digital identity. Password reuse is a leading cause of account takeovers, so use unique passwords for each account . It’s tempting to use your dog’s name for every password, but it makes you very vulnerable to cyber criminals.
To learn more visit http://www.dashlane.com/students.
About Dashlane
Dashlane makes identity and checkouts simple with its password manager and secure digital wallet app. Dashlane allows its users to securely manage passwords, credit cards, IDs, and other important information via advanced encryption and local storage.
Dashlane has helped over 7.5 million consumers in 150 countries¬ manage and secure their digital identity. Dashlane Business, a product designed to protect company passwords, is trusted by 6,000+ companies to create, enforce, and track effective access management. Dashlane features the only patented security architecture in the industry.
The app is available on PC, Mac, Android, and iOS, and has won critical acclaim from top publications, including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
Media Contact
Erin Fisher
erin@dottedlinecomm.com
856-422-0446
