How secure is my password? Tips to boost your privacy

WORRIED about password security? Hackers are getting more sophisticated, so you’re right to be concerned.

We’ve got some handy guidance on how to check your password security – plus tips on boosting your cyber-security.

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How secure is my password?

A few years ago, security firm Dashlane teamed up with Virginia Tech to analyse more than 61million passwords.

The most common 8-character password base is “12345678”.

A password base is a password that other variants could be spawned from. So “password” is the second most common base, but “password1” and “password2” are also very common.

Single words rank very highly in the top 10 most common password bases, including “football” and “princess”.

These repeat offenders are so common because people struggle to remember complicated passwords – even though weak passwords put users at risk.

“It is difficult for humans to memorise unique passwords for the 150+ accounts the average person has,” said Dr Gang Wang, a professor of computer science at Virginia Tech.

“Inevitably, people reuse or slightly modify them, which is a dangerous practice.

“This danger has been amplified by the massive data breaches, which have given attackers more effective tools for guessing and hacking passwords.”

Another worrying trend among users is “password walking”, which involves using letters and numbers that are next to each other on the keyboard.

These are the most common combinations of “password walking”:

1q2w3e4r1qaz2wsx1qazxsw2zaq12wsx!qaz2wsx1qaz@wsx

All of those passwords use keys that are nearby on the left side of the keyboard.

They might seem complicated enough, but hackers can take advantage of these common passwords.

Love and hate is also a recurring theme among popular passwords. These all ranked highly among people’s common password choices:

iloveyouf*ckyoua**holef*ckoffilovemetrustno1beautifulihateyoubullsh*tlovelove

Advertising has also clearly had an effect on us, with references to brands ranking very highly.

These are the brands that appear most frequently in our passwords:

myspacemustanglinkedinferrariplayboymercedescocacolasnickerscorvetteskittles

Ironically, both MySpace and LinkedIn both experienced major breaches in 2016, making them notably awkward choices for a password.

Music and movies also feature heavily in our common password picks.

Here are the most common pop culture references for passwords:

supermanpokemonslipknotstarwarsmetallicanirvanablink182spidermangreendayrockstar

And finally, footie has captured the attention of password-hunters too.

The most commonly picked Champions League teams for passwords are as follows:

liverpoolchelseaarsenalbarcelonamanchester

How to improve password security

The first thing you need to do is check if any of your accounts have already been compromised.

You can do this on HaveIBeenPwned.com.

This keeps track of major password/login leaks, and lets you check your email or phone number against them.

It’s a great way to see if you’ve been caught up in any major hacks, although it doesn’t have sight over every leak that’s ever taken place.

Password Managers

You should also set up a Password Manager, which makes it easier to keep track of your many passwords.

Google Chrome has a system like this built in already.

Apple users also already have a built-in system for this called iCloud Keychain and Safari Strong Passwords.

iCloud Keychain remembers the passwords you type on your phone, encrypts them, and stores them in the cloud.

So you can choose very strong passwords without having to remember them – your phone will simply enter them for you at log in.

“iCloud Keychain remembers things so that you don’t have to,” Apple explains.

“It auto-fills your information – like your Safari usernames and passwords, credit cards, Wi-Fi networks and social log-ins – on any device that you approve.

“iCloud Keychain stores your passwords and credit card information in such a way that Apple cannot read or access them.”

When you sign up to a service on Safari, you’ll get an option to use an auto-generated password that’s very difficult for hackers to crack.

This password is automatically saved in your iCloud Keychain so you don’t even have to remember it.

You can also add passwords you already have into the Keychain.

But one of the best features is the password re-use alert.

It’s important to never use the same password on multiple accounts. If you do re-use passwords, hackers who break into one account can then get access to others.

Your Safari Saved Passwords will alert you when you have two passwords that match, and suggest a change for you.

Set up iCloud Keychain

First, you’ll need to make sure you’re using an Apple device running iOS 7.0.3 or later, or OS X 10.9 or later for Macs.

On your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, follow these steps:

Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud (on iOS 10.2 or earlier, it’s just Settings > iCloud)Tap KeychainTap the slider to turn on iCloud Keychain

For Mac devices, here’s what you need to do:

Click the Apple menu in the top leftChoose System PreferencesSelect iCloudSelect Keychain

AppleSetting up iCloud Keychain is an easy way to keep hackers out of your accounts[/caption]

In other news, beware free video game hacks.

Watch out for this dangerous WhatsApp scam.

And avoid these common WhatsApp security mistakes.

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