A CYBER security experts has revealed where people are going wrong with their passwords.
The balance between creating a good, strong password that is tough to crack but easy for you to remember is a tricky one.
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But with hackers constantly evolving their tactics, staying on top of online security is a must.
Especially as we’re constantly accessing popular services like Facebook and Google from our smartphones.
Gary De Mercurio, from Trustwave SpiderLabs, says there’s good reason why IT managers at work are regularly getting you to change your password.
And it’s because brute force systems can get through a worrying number of combinations in a matter of seconds with the right equipment.
But people make the mistake of being far too predictable with their passwords.
“People will have these workarounds,” he told Help Net Security.
“You would be amazed at how many people have the exact same passwords.
“As clever as everyone thinks they are, the person next to you probably has a very similar password.
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“So anytime that it comes to things like seasons, or words like love, dragons, your birthday, your daughters birthday, any kind of dates, 1492, 1776, somebody has already used those, the password’s already been leaked.
“Also company names, the state that you’re or the country that you’re or the last time that your team won a world cup, it’s all out there, there are people out there thinking the same way you are.”
He recommends that people use the alt key on their keyboard to change up the characters to less obvious ones, which make it considerably harder for hackers to crack.
But he warned that cyber security is a constantly moving thing, saying: “What’s secure today may not be secure tomorrow.”
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
