You’re not alone: Spies forget their passwords too!
IT is one of the irritations of modern life – remembering the mind-boggling array of passwords for everything from getting into your laptop, paying a bill, shopping online or using social media.
But if you have trouble recalling your secret access codes, it seems you’re in good company.
Britain’s cyber security boss admitted yesterday that even his best spooks couldn’t remember all the passwords most of us need.
Ciaran Martin, of the new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said forcing people to regularly change and remember new passwords, which often require numbers and capital letters, risked making them more vulnerable to online attack.
Many people choose easy-to-remember passwords using familiar names such as a family member, pet or a football team.
But these often result in a codeword with a ‘weak’ security rating.
The NCSC looked at what an average Briton would have to do if they followed all the guidance on changing passwords and how they should be configured. Technical director Dr Ian Levy claimed it was ‘dumb’ to expect people to memorise such a huge amount of important information.
Dr Levy said: ‘Across everybody’s private and work life, all the different services they have, all the different passwords, the average complexity and the average change interval – broadly speaking, it’s the same as asking somebody to remember a different 600- digit number every month. That’s why I say it’s dumb.’
Mr Martin said: ‘My best technical people can’t do that – none of my best people can do that, so we shouldn’t be telling other people to do that. We’ve got to make it easier for people to operate safely.’
He said people should tackle the problem using a password manager – computer software that safely stores passwords in an encrypted vault on the internet, safe from hackers. The NCSC, which was opened by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh yesterday, will spearhead Britain’s efforts to prevent potentially devastating cyber attacks from hostile states, terror groups and malicious hackers – socalled hacktivists.
Mr Martin said his team would safeguard against online threats to the City, the Government, busi- nesses and vital infrastructure such as power stations.
Warning that significant cyber attacks were on the increase, with 188 foiled in the past three months, Chancellor Philip Hammond urged business to ‘sharpen its approach’.
Experts estimate the typical cost to business of the most severe information security breaches had nearly tripled in a year from £1.1million to £3.1million.