Could you be at risk?
Young people aged 18-24 are the very first generation to grow up with home computers, social media, online shopping, banking and payments. New research shows that these people are most vulnerable when it comes to online hackers.
The Passwords and Pins research was gathered by Gocompare.com money. It found that 18-24 year olds are least likely to keep their personal information safe.
Fifty per cent of those surveyed admitted they use the same passwords and pins across most platforms. They are also twice as likely to create weak passwords which only consist of letters.
A huge 86 per cent of those surveyed were guilty of over sharing their private data on social media. They are more susceptible to posting personal information which could relate to their passwords and pins.
The most popular choice for passwords was pet names, 16 per cent had used their pets name.
Sixteen per cent of 18-24 year olds also used the year of their birth to generate new passwords and pins.
Matt Sanders, head of money at Gocompare.com, said: “With many of us sharing so many aspects of our lives online through social media, people are potentially leaving large pools of information that could be used to guess passwords, out in public for criminals to take advantage of. These can include your date of birth, your address, where you went to school or your anniversary, among other things. While these sound like basic things, our research has shown just how easy it can for people to slip up.”
“For a strong password, we recommend you use a minimum of six characters which include a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols – such as exclamation or question marks. And, remember to use a different PIN or password for each account or application you access, otherwise if your password is stolen – criminals will have access to all your online accounts.”
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