Let’s look at a real-world example of how unprotected passwords can cause enormous damage to a person’s life.
A U.S.-based lawyer and his wife disagreed over the need to create secure passwords. While he was cautious about password security, she took a casual approach. So casual, in fact, that she used one easy-to-remember password for all accounts.
The couple agreed to disagree on the matter. For some time, all was fine. However, one day their son noticed the wife's e-mail sending out spam, a clear sign of hacking. The lawyer then received a notice from a credit union about a credit card registered in his wife's name. This credit card was maxed out and unpaid. The situation went from bad to worse, as fraudulent tax returns appeared under his wife's name.
The couple spent years trying to fix the damage caused by the account hacking. However, the identity theft can never be taken back. This hard lesson could have been prevented by using strong passwords.