Millions of iPhone and Android users warned breaking ‘rule of 16’ puts you at risk of dangerous hack that takes seconds

BREAKING a simple rule could put you at significantly higher risk of being hacked.

Millions of smartphone owners must make sure they’re not falling foul of the “rule of 16”, security experts say.

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It refers to the length of your passwords in characters.

Cyber-experts at Keeper Security have warned that passwords under that length are more easily “cracked”.

That’s when crooks use software designed to guess your passwords through pure computing brute-force.

“Creating passwords that are considered strong is difficult to do on your own,” explained Keeper Security’s Aranza Trevino.

“Strong passwords have to be at least 16 characters and contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

“However, these strong passwords are difficult for people to remember, so most people choose to create passwords that are weak but easy to remember.

“Using weak passwords for accounts is dangerous because it increases the likelihood of an unauthorized user being able to guess or crack that password successfully.”

SAVE YOURSELF

One simple solution is to use a password manager.

These let you store (and often even suggest) very strong passwords so that you don’t have to remember them.

This also resolves the issue of re-using passwords.

Often people re-use their complicated passwords because they don’t want to (or can’t) remember multiple.

But when one password is stolen, it can allow hackers to break into multiple accounts.

With a password manager, it’s easy to ensure that every account you have has a long and unique password.

Phone scam statistics

Americans are bombarded with three billion spam phone calls a month. What are the figures regarding the number of victims and the amount of money lost to fraudsters

• In 2022, Americans lost some $39.5 billion to phone scams, with 68.4 million US citizens affected, according to TechReport.
• The average phone scam victim lost $567.41 each in 2021, a major rise on the 2021 figure of $182 per victim, according to Hiya.
• The majority of scams happen over the phone, with fraudsters twice as likely to call compared to text in 2021, as reports the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• In 2021, the US saw a 56% increase in spam phone calls with 60% of those being robocalls.
• US residents experienced an average of 18 spam phone calls per month, although some experts believe the true figure may be as high as 31 per month.
• Many phone calls from reputable businesses may be marked wrongly as spam, but 38% of companies have no idea whether they’re being marked as “potential fraud” or not, according to Hiya.
• Never hand over any personal or financial information if you suspect a phone call is a scam. For instance, your bank will never ask you for such details in full over the phone. 
• To cut down on spam phone calls and scams, sign up for the Do Not Call Registry. Telemarketers, by law, will need to check that list before they call you up.
• Downloading third-party apps such as Hiya, Nomorobo, or Truecaller can help filter out annoying spam calls.
• Try not to share your phone number unless you have to, especially online or with sketchy sources.

PASS GO?

There are plenty of options for password managers.

But sometimes the easiest way is to use the built-in systems on your devices.

For instance, iPhone owners can access to iCloud Keychain through iOS.

This suggests strong passwords and lets you store them in the cloud – reminding you of them when it’s time to log in.

Google offers a similar system through its Chrome web browser, which is perfect for Android and PC users.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk