On the other hand, a bad password is like an invitation to hackers and scammers to use your personal and financial details to suit their shady schemes. So here’s a few password Do’s and Don’ts:

Do:

• opt for Multi-step Authentication. You’ve probably noticed this has grown in popularity over the last few years- and for good reason. Although some may find it tedious to have to pass through several stages of security to access their accounts or approve transactions, that extra 1 minute of manual authentication serves as another layer of protection against cyber criminals. IT IS WORTH IT.

• Make sure your password is at least 8 characters long. The longer the password, the more difficult it is for hackers to guess them, or by some other means crack them.

• Use a phrase or name that you are likely to remember, but that isn’t easily identifiable with your accounts on social media. Remember, if you’ve told everyone on FB about your favourite food, place, or person, and you also happen to use one of those in your password, you’re giving criminals clues that they can use to guess your password.

• Take that special word or phrase and intersperse it with a combination of numbers and symbols. Again, you can use numbers that are significant to you, but that aren’t identifiable with you on social media posts.

• If you are multilingual, you could try translating that word or phrase into a different language.

Don’t:

• use words straight out of the dictionary, your first name, or your date of birth. These are very easy for hackers to guess.

• use the same password for more than one account. Even with a secure password, it’s very risky.

• write down or type up your entire password and leave it somewhere that’s easily accessible to others.

• NEVER use the word “password” in any variation, or simple numeric combinations like 1234. These are among the first things hackers will try.