Using one password for all your online accounts may make it easier for you to manage different digital personas, but a study on ScienceDaily.com shows that it can potentially backfire as identity theft, hacking, and other types of abuse become more popular.

Researchers from the Blekinge Institute of Technology, School of Computing, in Karlskrona, Sweden surveyed students from a secondary school and staff members at a technological institute about their online behavior, asking them about how much time they spent on the Internet as well as the passwords they used.

Unsurprisingly, those with technical backgrounds were more inclined to have strong passwords. Results also showed that fewer people duplicate their passwords these days. From a whopping 75 percent, survey shows that only 40 percent use the same password for different accounts. Still, researchers say that more personal online security measures need to be implemented.

"Our results indicate that bad password strategies may be 'taught away', or that there would be a point in having good password strategies and online safety taught in primary or secondary school to increase security awareness," they say.

(Photo by Angel Arcones via Flickr Creative Commons)