If you’re using ANY of these words in your passwords – you need to make a change today

It’s not a great time to be relying on a weak password to secure your online accounts. Of course, it’s never a great time to be relying on a weak password… but security experts have warned that last year saw cyber security threats increase by a fifth (20 percent) worldwide. And that trend is unlikely to reverse anytime soon as many of these campaigns have been hugely successfully, netting millions of credit card numbers, mobile numbers, and home addresses for cyber attackers. 

A recent survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) proved that UK passwords are often comprised of easily-guessable words or names, including pet’s names (15 percent), family members’ names (14 percent), an important date in their life (13 percent) or their favourite sports team (six percent). Given there are 53 million adults living in the UK, that’s roughly 7.9 million people using the name of their pet to secure their social media profiles, emails, online banking, and more. As such, there could be millions of ideal targets for criminals relying on trial-and-error techniques to break into online accounts.

In response to the survey, cyber security firm Nexor – which has contracts with the UK Government – has issued a warning to users worldwide. Sarah Knowles, principal security consultant, said: “No one is immune to the threat of cyber attacks. We have recently seen cyber criminals imitate the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) and the UK government, by creating false domains and text messages requesting passwords and financial contributions.