There’s a new warning for millions of email users and it’s not something you should ignore. The security team at Action Fraud, along with the City of London Police, are urging everyone to take a minute to check their passwords and make some very quick changes. Most of us now have numerous online accounts and it’s easy to start using the same password across every platform. Although that makes it far more simple to remember login codes it also helps hackers as well and one thing you definitely don’t want is cyber crooks targeting your inbox.
“Using the same password for multiple accounts? That means criminals only need to steal one of your passwords to hack into multiple accounts,” Action Fraud explained in a message on X (formerly Twitter ).
“Email and social media account passwords should be strong and different from all your other passwords.”
If you think your Facebook password is the same as your Gmail account or you are using the same code for your emails as your online shopping then now is a good time to switch things up.
Along with warning about the dangers of duplicate passwords, Action Fraud has also listed some top tips for easily improving security.
These include creating unhackable passwords by using three random words only you will know. For instance, you could use the name of your birth place, first pet and favorite colour as a code – eg. londonfidoyellow
That’s a good start but adding characters such as @, & or % along with adding numbers and capital letters will boost things further. For example, londonfidoyellow would be stronger by changing it to L@ndonF1doYe1low.
If you hate remembering passwords there are plenty of manger-style apps that can help along with both Google and Apple offering ways to store them behind their biometric security.
Finally, it’s a really good idea to turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) as this will mean you’ll have to verify the login on another device you own before access is allowed.
Don’t forget, if you haven’t modified your passwords in years and use the same code for endless accounts – especially your email – it’s really time you made changes.
