May Day, Thursday 1 May 2025 is World Password Day. Vodafone is warning Australians to rethink their passwords as new research finds almost one-fifth of respondents use their pet names, making them purr-fect targets for online fraudsters.
A Vodafone spokesperson said, “Our research shows a significant proportion of Aussies are using their pets’ names as easy and convenient passwords for their accounts. Unfortunately, this also makes these passwords convenient for hackers to crack.”
According to the top Aussie pet names in 2024, Daisy, Luna and Toby are the among the most popular.
“Common and predictable passwords such as pet names and birthdays are easily cracked by cybercriminals. It is critical for Austalians to create strong, unique passwords as well as enable technologies like two-factor authentication to protect themselves against online thieves“.
The telco also found that almost a quarter (23%) of female respondents admitted to using their pets’ names in their passwords, compared to just 15% of men.
In March this year, small business owner Michael Williams suffered the financial and reputational consequences of having a predictable password and a lack of two-factor authentication when the website for his cleaning business was hacked. After getting through the weak password his daughter had set up, the hackers created 20,000 spam website pages which cost Michael $1,500 and a week of time to resolve. To protect his website, Michael now has an encrypted password and two-factor authentication in place.
Additional password tips from Vodafone include:
- Update your password regularly Avoid hackers successfully guessing your password by updating your password every 30 days.
- Enable two-factor authentication: Even if a hacker correctly guesses your password, a two-step login process will prevent them gaining access to your account.
- Take note of security breaches: Change your password immediately if you’re alerted of a security breach by any service that you have a log in with.
- Use a Password Manager: Managing multiple complex passwords can be challenging. Using a password manager can help you securely store and generate complex passwords.
As a tech professional, I have to point out that I do not entirely agree with the password tips above. Onerous password change regime is a driver to disincentivise people from the process.
I cannot tell you just how much I loath my corporate requirement to change my password every 40 days when I have a perfectly good regime for complex passwords. It works exactly the opposite as intended because I regress to using something easier to manage.
My tips would be:
- A password manager is a must. There are plenty of options available but I personally use a variant of BitWarden.
- Use the built-in random password generator to create unique, complex passwords. A sufficiently long and random password that is not reused will eliminate the need to change your passwords frequently.
- For the love of everything sacred, like Belgian chocolates and Honduras coffee beans, stop taking the easy way out and use the same password for everything.
- Really really just stop being lazy and opt for cross-platform single sign-in. It only takes one breach and bad actors will have access to everything else you use for that login.
- Enable two-factor authentication everywhere possible, and avoid anything that won’t support it.
- If possible, start using passkeys or hardware authentication keys.
There’s never a bad time to get proactive about cybersecurity.
