Passwords are like keys; you use them every day to access your most valuable information. Unfortunately, most people don’t use passwords well, leaving them vulnerable to identity theft and other problems.
Even with all we know today about identity theft and theft of financial information, the most common password used is still 123456. The second most common password used? 12345678. While most of us think that we’re too small for hackers to care about our personal information, this is far from true. Most attacks occur on personal computers.
Phishing Scams on the Rise
Phishing scams are one of the most common ways in which attackers gain access to passwords and other sensitive information. During a phishing scam, the attacker sends an email that includes a link to a trusted website. This might be a bank, credit card company, or other financial institution. Attackers have gotten extremely good at mimicking the real thing.
The website and email might look exactly like the website you visit to login to your account. However, these links do not actually take you to the website you think you’re visiting. They take you to the attacker’s website where you are prompted to enter your login or other sensitive information. Once entered, the site captures this information which can be used later to allow the attacker access to your account.
These types of scams are common and extremely hard to detect. This is why you should NEVER click on links in your email. Instead, enter the URL for the actual website in your web browser. Manually enter it and do not copy and paste from the email.
Creating a Unique Password
We get it. Remembering complex passwords can be a nightmare. However, creating unique passwords that contain characters, capital and lowercase letters, and numbers provides significant protection from hackers. The more original the password, the less likely attackers can figure it out.
We Need a Better Solution
Even if you can come up with a truly unique password that no one can guess, the whole concept of passwords is old and outdated. Passwords put people at risk of security threats. It’s time that we create a better more reliable way for users to log-on to websites and accounts. This is the only way to truly protect ourselves from identity and financial theft online.
