Password to the wise
Never use these 25 options
DO YOU use your child or pet’s name as your password?
Or are you a fan of bond007, trustno1 or abc123?
According to Queensland Police, if you answered “yes” to any of the above or “password” is your password, then you’re one of many and “unfortunately this makes you particularly vulnerable online”.
“If you use a password based on a name, it can be easily broken,” a Queensland Police statement read.
“Hackers know many people use passwords starting with a capital letter and often use the same password across many sites.
“Once a hacker works it out, they can gain access to them all.”
The warning was issued because police are being “bombarded with news of scams, people being defrauded of their financial futures, and the loss of their businesses or employment through financial crimes,” police said.
Financial crime or fraud is estimated to cost Australia more than $8.5 billion annually.
SplashData, a password management provider, recently released its annual list of “Worst Passwords of the Year” using data from 5 million leaked passwords from users in North America and Western Europe.
The worst passwords in 2017 included some repeat offenders and completely new terms. The first and second most used passwords were the same as the year prior: “123456” and “Password,” respectively. While “12345” went down two spots to the number 5 slot, “123456789” was a new addition at number 8.
The release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi seems to have inspired the new entry “Starwars”.
“Hackers are using common terms from pop culture and sports to break into accounts online because they know many people are using those easy-to-remember words,” Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, said.
Others included “Football”, “Iloveyou”, “Admin”, “Monkey” and “Trustno1”.
QLD Police warned people “it’s time to reset your passwords” for people who use any of those on the list.
“If you get stuck on how to create a stronger password try using at least 12 characters and include symbols such as $,?,% @ in random places to make it more difficult to be broken,” QLD Police advised in a statement.
“It may be harder to remember, but consider the alternative. Losing your personal data, account details or a sum of money is much more inconvenient in the long run.
“Remember, only you should be in control of your passwords.”
SplashData estimated that almost 10 per cent of people have used at least one of the 25 worst passwords on the 2017 list, and nearly three per cent of people have used the worst password, 123456.
The company noted that the past few years have been particularly devastating for data security, with a number of wellpublicised hacks – Equifax, Dropbox, and the SEC – attacks, ransoms, and even extortion attempts.
According to SplashData, the key to creating a strong password is to use at least 12 characters with a combination of upper and lower case letters and characters.
Experts also advise to avoid personal information, common words and, importantly, reused passwords.