In the wake of major consumer website hackings, 3 of 5 U.S. adults who are online say they feel that they might be vulnerable to being hacked for their online accounts. Savvy Internet users have reason to be wary when it comes to using or storing private, personal information online. In recent weeks, major consumer websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, and more have all been hacked, compromising millions of users’ passwords and the data these were intended to protect. And since 62 percent of online adults reuse the same password for more than one of their online accounts, one hacking is likely to compromise all of their data online.

This kind of risky behavior is all too common. Just this week, Dropbox, entrusted by millions to store important files and data, admitted they had suffered a security breach caused by both users and their own employees using the same passwords for multiple web accounts.

The survey, which we commissioned and was conducted independently by Harris Interactive in June among 2,208 U.S. adults, revealed that the majority of online adults are not comfortable storing personal data online: 88 percent are at least somewhat concerned that their personal online data is being used without their knowledge, with 59 percent being extremely concerned by this.

Password Problems & Other Risky Behavior

Despite concerns over exposed information, online Americans seem unsure of how to go about protecting it. Even though 3 of 5 say they feel that they might be vulnerable to being hacked, these same people nevertheless engage in risky behaviors. For instance, of these concerned people, 69 percent use the same passwords for more than one of their online accounts; half of them don’t change their online account passwords regularly; and 64 percent of them store their credit card information and other personal data on some websites for convenience.

Searching For a Solution

While U.S. adults are aware that it is unsafe to store sensitive data on websites — for instance, 48 percent of online adults are concerned or extremely concerned that many websites store records of their credit card information and other personal data — a near-equivalent number of online adults (45 percent) say they are not sure of the best way to keep their online passwords and personal data safe.

“This poll shows that people are aware of the threat of online hacking, but it also shows that people are eager for a practical solution to this universal dilemma,” says our CEO Emmanuel Schalit. “Internet users should not have to choose between convenience and security — indeed they can and should have both.”

As you know,  Dashlane’s proprietary tech allows people to manage all their personal data — from passwords to payment info and IDs — and then enter them into any form automatically, across all devices and browsers. Dashlane’s Security Dashboard and Password Generator features even gauge users’ security online, and generate super-secure, unique passwords for each web account. Importantly, all users’ personal information is locally encrypted on their devices, and accessible only to the user — not even Dashlane can access it. With Dashlane, users can store all their personal data in one place only they can access, removing the need to store information on various websites for convenience.

On the Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Dashlane, from June 25-27, 2012 among 2,208 adults age 18+. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact me!