People use easy-to-use passwords, like their pet's name, family members' names, important dates, their favorite sports team – or even "Password," and that could put them at risk.
Research by the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) shows that 15% of people have at some point used their pet's name as a password, while 14% have used the name of a family member.
Another 13% have used a significant date, such as a birthday or anniversary, while 6% have used the sports team they support as a password.
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While these passwords are easy for users to remember, they could put their accounts at risk. Attackers could extract information (like pet names) from public social media posts that they could use in attacks. They could then try to use that information to hack into accounts.
They could also use a brute force attack tool to try to crack accounts that use simple (one-word) passwords with relative ease. Using default credentials like “password” provides hackers with an easy method of breaching accounts.
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Weak passwords put personal information or financial data at risk – especially if the same password is used across multiple accounts.
They could even put their employer at risk if the stolen password is also used to secure corporate accounts since hackers will try to see if the password works on other accounts.
The NCSC is therefore urging people to follow their advice and make their passwords three random words. The idea is that it is relatively easy to remember three words, but that they are random is the key move that will prevent hackers from guessing passwords.
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The NCSC also recommends that users make sure their password is unique, because if an attacker steals your email username and password, they could gain access to other websites that use the same credentials.
In addition to this, the NCSC recommends that users save their passwords in their browser. This not only allows users to easily log in to websites, but also protects them from some attacks – for example, the password manager will not work if the website is a fake version of the website designed to steal credentials.
Users are also advised to enable two-factor authentication to provide an additional barrier to attacks.
Information source: zdnet.com
