Microsoft warns of the dangerous usage habits of millions of users

Microsoft recently carried out a series of security threat assessment of its services and users between January and March of this year, and the end result is staggering.

According to statistics of the Microsoft Threat Research team, millions of users of Microsoft services have the habit of using the same password for multiple accounts and especially re-using one password many times. Specifically, Microsoft Threat Research conducted a test of more than 3 billion logins used for Microsoft services, of which 44 million Microsoft service accounts and Azure AD have matching passwords, for see that the owners of the aforementioned accounts are reusing credentials for different accounts. This is a habit that can make them pay dearly.

In addition, Microsoft also noted that of the 3 billion logins it checked, a large number had leaked online. The company sent notice to these account holders and asked them to reset their passwords to ensure the account was not abused.

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Not stopping there, Microsoft Threat Research statistics also show that up to 30% of passwords that can be used repeatedly can be cracked by hackers in just 10 guesses using simple password-breaking algorithms. . This can in particular lead to a serious data theft attack, in which an attacker easily gains access to a credential group and uses similar information to gain access. other accounts. For example, if you use the same password for multiple Microsoft accounts, when the password is 'breached', hackers can quickly access the related accounts.

To solve this problem, there is no more effective solution than using separate, strong passwords for different accounts. If you are wondering about how to remember all of the above passwords, use password management software.