Nearly three in five British people in a relationship have shared their email or social networking account password with their partner, and a similar number have had their partner's password given to them, our online poll has discovered.
And while it’s one thing to have your partner’s password with their consent, a sneaky one in five coupled-up people has logged into a partner or ex-partner’s email or social networking account without their knowledge.
- 58% of British people in a relationship have given their husband/wife/partner a password to access their email or social networking account
- While 61% have been given a password to access the email or social networking account of their husband/wife/partner
- Those aged 25 to 39 are most likely to have given (61%) and received (67%) passwords
- 20% of coupled-up people have logged into a partner or ex-partner’s email or social networking account without their knowledge
- Females (22%) are very slightly more likely to use a password without their partner’s knowledge than men (18%)
- 18 to 24 year olds with partners are by far the age group most likely to log into a partner or ex-partner’s account without their knowledge, with 38% saying they have, compared to 29% of 25 to 39 year olds and 10% of those over 60
While hacking into accounts is a far cry from sneakily logging in using a shared password, website security has been in the spotlight recently, as so-called ‘hacktivist’ groups such as Anonymous and Lulz Security have targeted high-profile victims, such as The Sun. Owned by beleaguered Murdoch firm News International, the tabloid’s website was taken offline temporarily earlier this month as a hoax story spread over micro-blogging site Twitter, in response to the on-going hacking scandal. Lulz Sec’s Twitter page taunted: ‘Arrest us. We dare you. We are the unstoppable hacking generation!’
When it comes to unauthorised access, however, our poll suggests that for some, the threat may be slightly closer to home…
