In this modern world, the internet brings us lots and lots of advantages. Unfortunately, the downside is that cyber crime is becoming an increasingly serious issue. Safeguarding the computers and devices you use, such as your PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, is therefore vital – as is the security of all your online accounts. Banking and other financial accounts, such as those containing your savings and investments, can be targeted by criminals for obvious reasons. Many other accounts may contain your debit or credit card details, for instance, while others will typically hold personal information that could be valuable to a fraudster.
Passwords are the obvious way to prevent unauthorised access. However, they need to be strong, robust and unique to be effective. However, only 55% of individuals surveyed in the National Cyber Security Centre UK Cyber Survey admitted always using a strong password for their main email account. This is despite email passwords being particularly important, given these accounts commonly have a role in setting up and changing security details on other personal accounts.
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Author: Lesley Davidson, Associate Director, Strategic Accounts FundsNetwork
Security tips
To help ensure you stay safe and to encourage password best practice, I’ve highlighted some tips below, largely based on advice from the National Cyber Security Centre.
1. Switch on password protection
This can be as simple as setting up a screen-lock password or PIN. Depending on your device, it may be possible to enable strong biometric controls. This includes fingerprint or facial recognition, making it harder for criminals to gain access to your information.
2. Change all default passwords
A very common mistake is not changing the default passwords that manufacturers issue with their smartphones, laptops, and other devices. It’s recommended that you change all default passwords as soon as possible following your purchase.
3. Avoid using predictable passwords
Using easy-to-guess passwords can be tantamount to opening the door to criminals. Indeed, breach analysis found that 23.2 million victim accounts worldwide used ‘123456’ as the password. Other frequently-used passwords found in breaches included ‘liverpool’, ‘chelsea’, ‘iloveyou’ and everyday first names such as ‘ashley’ and ‘michael’ (with or without numbers added to the end)1 .
Passwords need to be easy to remember but, on the other hand, they should be hard for somebody else to guess. A good rule to follow is to make sure that somebody who knows you well couldn’t guess your password in 20 attempts. Each password should also be unique – this helps to ensure any hack of one account doesn’t compromise the security of others.
4. Don’t use personal information
As well as avoiding first names, you should also steer clear of dates of birth, pet names and your company’s name. Indeed, any information that can be found on social media sites or online shouldn’t feature as part of a password or as answers to the security questions needed to reset a password. They should be complex, obscure and difficult to guess.
5. Use passphrases
Three randomly selected words in combination are stronger together as a ‘passphrase’ than typical passwords. Passphrases are more secure, simple to make and easy to remember. Predictable phrases, such as ‘onetwothree’, should be avoided though.
6. Enable multi-factor authentication for important accounts
Many online accounts now use ‘multi-factor authentication’ as part of the log-in process. This requires two or multiple different methods to ‘prove’ your identity before you can use a service. This is generally a password plus one other method, such as a code that’s sent to your smartphone that must be entered in addition to the password. Where the online account gives you the option, you should enable this feature in order to boost security.
7. Get help to cope with password overload
These days, most people tend to have around 200 online accounts and so remembering security details is a challenge. Using a password manager app is an option – these are tools that can create and store passwords which can be accessed through a ‘master’ password. As the master password is protecting all of the passwords stored in the repository, you’ll need to make sure this is particularly strong.
I hope this has helped with useful guidance to help protect you from cyber crime. To find out more about staying safe online, Fidelity provide lots of information on their website about the importance of online security and how we keep your personal details safe. Further advice is also available from organisations such as The National Cyber Security Centre and Get Safe Online.