Android smart device users are just as bad at securing their mobiles as people who use “1235467” and “password” on their computers and phones, according to a newly released study.

Tech analyst and Norwegian University graduate, Marte Løge, conducted a thesis analysing 4 000 patterns keycode patterns on Android smart devices and found that 77 per cent of users used codes with the first digit positioned at one of the four corners of the screen (44 per cent of that pool start at the top left corner). On average the codes were also made up of five digits.

The study also found that a majority of the patterns started from the top left and ended on the bottom right.

Løge presented her these findings at the PasswordsCon event held in Las Vegas last week.

According to Løge, letters are among the most common patterns and are more often than not linked to a person’s first name or that of someone close to them, such as a spouse, child or parent, increasing the chances of anyone guessing the access code to a mobile.

“Humans are predictable,” she told Ars Technica after her presentation at PasswordsCon. “”We’re seeing the same aspects used when creating a pattern locks [as are used in] pin codes and alphanumeric passwords.”

Her suggestion on how to make your pattern more secure is simple: create one comprised of at least eight dots, create crosses between them and and turn off the “make pattern visible” option on your mobile so that no one can see it when you’re busy unlocking it.

[Source – The Next Web, image – Marte Løge]