Scams – Password awareness
Whether it’s your Facebook, Amazon, or Netflix account, the explosion in popularity of online apps and services means more and more of us have to remember an increasingly long list of passwords.
Unfortunately, some of us cope with this challenge by resorting to practices that leave our data, devices and money at risk – by using the same password across multiple accounts, or by creating simple passwords that could easily be guessed by hackers.
Bad password practice is more prevalent than you might think – the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre carried out analysis of passwords leaked in data breaches and found that more than 23 million users worldwide used 123456 as a password. You can read more about it here:
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/most-hacked-passwords-revealed-as-uk-cyber-survey-exposes-gaps-in-online-security
Here are three top tips that will make your life easier and your online accounts more secure:
1: Creating memorable passwords
A good way to create strong, memorable passwords is by using 3 random words. But remember; don’t use words that can be guessed (like your pet’s name). You can include numbers and symbols if you need to. For example- “RedPantsTree4!”
2: Saving passwords in your browser
Saving your password in your browser means letting your web browser (such as Chrome, Safari or Microsoft Edge) remember your password for you.
This can help:
• make sure you do not lose or forget your passwords
• protect you against some cyber crime, such as fake websites. It is safer than using weak passwords, or using the same password in more than one place.
3: Email account passwords
If a hacker gets into your email account, they could:
• reset your other online account passwords
• access personal information you have saved about yourself or your business. Your email password should be strong and different to all your other passwords. This will make it harder to crack or guess.
David Rose