Only 33% of the 7,000 NordPass survey respondents in the U.S., U.K. and other countries change their default IoT password.

This statistic suggests that those who refuse to change their default passwords end up giving hackers the privilege to take over or exploit their devices, as the default passwords can be easily guessed.

The survey also showed that only 36% of respondents change their default passwords on a router and only 20% have additional access to their router via VPN, which provides users with the required tunneling technology to help them encrypt their data without potentially exposing their devices to security risks.

This setting has caused attackers to compromise home routers, among several other security issues.

In the future, NordPass advised individuals to follow certain procedures for further securing their IoT devices.

Procedures include changing the default password to something more secure, constantly updating and patching IoT devices due to the vulnerabilities that these IoT devices develop over time, installing VPN on routers that better protect users’ data.

For more information, read the original story in TechRepublic.