Meaningful connectivity and safe online experiences on WTISD

May 17 is World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, an event that aims to raise awareness of the potential of the Internet (among others) to bridge the digital divide by promoting universal digital transformation and connectivity.

Our lives wouldn’t be the same without the telecommunications devices and information technology that have completely transformed every aspect of our interactions.

According to the latest figures of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 66% of the global population was online in 2022. These numbers are likely to grow, as the organization continues to promote meaningful and universal connectivity for everyone.

However, from the first days of the telegraph to present-day cyberspace communication, the challenges of the global community are also undeniable as we relentlessly advance in the digital era.

Creating a safe online experience

Seamless connectivity isn’t risk-free, with digital-enabled scams, malware and data breaches that threaten the privacy, safety and finances of people from all walks of life.

In celebration of a successful and worthwhile internet experience for both existing and new members of the digital community, we would like to reiterate the importance of cybersecurity in everything digital.

From connected homes to social media, the habit of overlooking the importance of data security can have long-lasting consequences on individuals.

While online security takes many forms, protecting the digital you can be boiled down to three key elements: secure passwords, awareness and security tools.

Passwords are used to lock our online accounts and secure sensitive data. From banking, remote work and shopping to healthcare and everything in between, passwords remain fundamental to online security. However, individuals keep the risks at the expense of their identity and money.

Bitdefender telemetry puts these risks into perspective. Analysis of our database of leaks database shows exposed user passwords number up to 28 billion, 98% of which were in plain text alongside the users’ email address.

Our five most common leaked passwords are undeniably the most easily recognized globally:

• ‘123456’
• ‘qwerty’
• ‘111111’
• ‘password’
• ‘12345678’

Our leaks database also revealed some statistics regarding passwords that users consider safe (but aren’t) containing letter and number combinations:

• ‘abc133’ – 2.7 million
• ‘password1’ – 2.4 million
• ‘1q2w3e4r5t’ – 1.3 million
• ‘123456a’ – 1.2 million

Without a doubt, poor password choice is a global problem, with users opting for convenience over digital security by using easy-to-remember passwords that lack special characters, phrases and capital letters, or the required password length (16+ characters).

In the context of skyrocketing cyberattacks and scams, every connected person needs to become familiar with online security threats and adopt good cyber practices to minimize risks.

Bitdefender’s blog can act as your go-to cybersecurity-awareness hub, where you can learn about the latest threats and brush up on your cybersecurity know-how in just a few clicks.

Here are some quick tips to help you improve your security posture today:

• Use unique passwords for all of your online accounts and include a combination of letters (upper and lowercase), numbers and symbols. Why? The more complex the password, the harder it is for cybercriminals to attempt to crack it. Never reuse old passwords, even if you deleted the account and enable 2FA and MFA whenever available.
• Keep personal information as private as possible by not oversharing on social media. Enable any privacy features and safeguards to enhance your privacy, and avoid sharing your home address, phone number, email address or any other personally identifiable info in your profile bio.
• Make sure your devices and software are up to date at all times. Enable automatic updates so you can patch your systems quickly to avoid vulnerability-based threats.
• Use a security solution to protect against new and existing threats, including malware, ransomware, spyware and phishing attacks
• Avoid too-good-to-be-true correspondence and ads. Think before you click on links, emails or messages that promise you rewards with little to no effort from your side.

With global connectivity comes great responsibility

Bitdefender security solutions provide multi-layered protection to keep all of your devices safe from lingering cyberthreats. This includes complete real-time data protection, ransomware protection, web attack prevention and advanced anti-phishing and anti-fraud prevention filtering systems. You can strengthen your online defenses and privacy by adding our trustworthy VPN and password manager.

Find out more about Bitdefender security, privacy and identity protection solutions here.