IS YOUR PET’S NAME
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making you vulnerable to cyber criminals?
– Petcover Australia With such a technology and online–focused world, passwords have become an annoying necessity in life. We are always forgetting them, we are being constantly asked to change them, and worse; we are now being asked to make them more complicated by adding special symbols! It’s all too hard, so to make things simple for ourselves, what do we do? Our loved ones, birthdays and yes, of course, our pets’ names are top choices for password inspo.
next password, or have already used a pet’s name as a password, now is the time to make a change. NCSC communications director Nicola Hudson warned: How does your pet’s name password make you. vulnerable to cybercriminals? Hackers or cyber-criminals regularly use programs or ‘bots’ to test thousands of password combinations in a method often termed ‘trial-and-error’.
It’s only natural we use names that are special to us to help remember our never-ending list of passwords. In fact, a recent survey by The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) found that 15% of people used pets’ names, 14% use a family member’s name, and 13% pick a notable date.
Does changing a password make you feel like you have to pick between your pets as you ask yourself, “who is my favourite”? If you’re struggling to decide which pet to use for your
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DOG WORLD July 2021
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In other words, millions of people are using their pet’s names as their online passwords, and most likely, unknowingly making themselves easy targets for hackers and other online security issues.
