Be complex!

Cyberattacks continue to make headline news on what seems to be a very regular occurrence. 

The latest story highlights the scale of log-in hijacking.  Research suggests that cyber thieves get their hands on almost 250,000 valid log-in names and passwords for Google accounts each week – that’s a scary statistic, but we don’t help ourselves. 

While it might be a hassle to change your passwords, or have different passwords for different access points, it does pay to be a complex individual!

Here are some tips that can help keep you and your data safe.

Don’t use personal information

While we don’t expect to be hacked by those closest to us, it doesn’t mean that a hacker can’t just as easily guess your password if you use personal information – date of birth for example or your pet’s name.  With so much information being readily available via social media channels, it wouldn’t take long for a hacker to check out your profile, see pictures of your pet for example, and start entering popular pet names. 

Don’t use the same password

We all want an easy life but with so many passwords to remember, all too often people use the same password for multiple logins (or sequential passwords i.e. password1, password2), and that’s where we make it easy for hackers.  Change out your passwords for different sites – it will pay to in the long term.

Change your temporary password

Some sites provide a temporary password when you first access their site – remember to change it!  Some sites will specify password etiquette, i.e. what should be included – letters, capitals, numbers, special characters, or symbols, and it will also show you the strength of the new password – adhere to their advice!  We need to make passwords secure and difficult to break.

Make it a long password

Creating a long password instead of a short password can also help keep the hackers at bay.  Did you know a password made up of just three letters can be broken in as little as 0.0007 seconds!  An eleven-letter password on the other hand, can take over four years to hack! (www.whoishostingthis.com). You do the math!

Finally, change your passwords regularly – although this might seem like an inconvenience, it’ll be more of an inconvenience if a hacker gains access to all your personal information!