But it's the password that I use for everything!.....

How many times have you heard this or even thought this? People think that using the same password for everything is awesome! It makes it easier..... but for them or the hackers?

If you use the same password for your email, the login for your mobile plan or even your bank account, then you are asking for trouble! Why you might ask?

Let me explain... say you have a password of Frid@y1! You might think that the password is complicated enough because it contains all of the following

1. Upper case letters
2. Lower case letters
3. Number
4. Symbol

Yes, it does contain all of these but according to the Bitwarden Password Strength checker found here, the password can be cracked in 20 seconds!

Data breaches seem to occur almost weekly at the moment.... It's only a matter of time before you are affected by a breach. The information obtained from a data breach includes your username (usually your email address) and a password. The hackers can use these credentials on other websites, and if you use the same password. then they might get lucky.

With a little bit of open-source intelligence (OSINT), hackers can identify many aspects of your life including

1. Address
2. Phone number
3. Bank details

Hackers will use the information from the breach to attempt to hack your mobile phone account. If they can access the account, they can perform a sim swap. According to Avast, a sim swap is:

A SIM swap scam tricks your carrier into sending your texts and calls to a scammer — including password recovery and account verification codes. If a SIM swap cracks open your social media or bank accounts, it can have devastating consequences.

Conclusion

The use of multiple passwords is not the only way to help keep your data secure but it is one easy method you can start today. This will help to keep your data secure. In another article, I'll talk about Password Managers like LastPass and Bitwarden.