W
hatdoyouthinkourmost
popular password is for all
thoseaccountswehave
online? I guessed incorrectly. I
thought we might be marginally original and
useourdog'sorcat’sname,orourbirthdate.
Theseareaboutassecureawetpaperbag.
Butno,themostpopularpasswordforour
personal information and key data is 123456.
I nearly fell off my chair when I found out.
We hear so much about online fraud and the
critical role that passwords play in protecting
us, yet many people do the equivalent of leav-
ing the keys in the car and the front door
open, with a wad of cash in easy view.
We all know the problems of myriad pass-
words. And I do agree that many of the sites
we open with a password are pretty innocu-
ous.Iactuallydousemynowdeceaseddog's
name on a couple of sites. Two of these are
footy tipping sites. I seem to come dead last
every year, so if anyone cares to hack into
these and change my tips I would be grateful.
I also use pretty standard passwords for my
golf club and yacht club. If anyone wishes to
go to the effort of checking out my clubs
member’s dinner menu, or what our start
time is for our next yacht race, feel free.
If you are wondering what has inspired
these words, it is because in May there was a
Privacy Awareness Week. I read through
some of the news releases and also took a
look at Scamwatch (scamwatch.gov.au). We
have well and truly moved on from crooks
robbing banks to crooks scamming us. AIN YOUR INTERESTPaul Clitheroe
Paul Clitheroe isMoney'schairman and
chief commentator. He is also chairman of
the Australian government's Financial Liter-
acy Board and a best-selling author.scam may cause huge emotional distress, but
it tends to be a non-violent activity so does
not get big headlines in the media. Hence
Privacy Awareness Week: the message about
online security is not sinking in.
Let’sdothebasicsfirst.Theusualscam
trick is phishing, where we get scammed into
handing over personal details. I had a good
example of this recently. At 6am on a Sunday
morning the phone rings. I was half asleep,
which is of course part of the scam, but the
conversation went something like this. “Good
morning, Mr Clitheroe, it is Peter from NAB.
Can I just check you are Paul Clitheroe and
yourdateofbirthisJuly7,1955,andyour
address is .... ” Here he correctly gave my
address. He continued: “As I am speaking to
you at home, I can safely assume you are not
inCroatiausingyourNABVisacardtowith-
draw $1000 cash. We believe you are being
scammed. We wish to put your card on secu-
rity hold for your own protection.” At this
stage I was most impressed: my bank was
looking after me. We actually had a bit of a
laugh about me not being in Croatia and he
discussedhowthebankwouldrefundthe
amount I had been scammed for. He even
encouraged me to go straight to my computer
afterthecalltocheckformyself.
Anyway, the twig dropped when he said,
“All I need to do to put a hold on your account
and replace the $1000 is to get your pin num-
ber.” I am pretty aware of scams, but it did
throw me a bit but not enough to fall for it.
Pretty impressive, though!Cyber
scammers are
hard at work, so
make sure your
electronic doors
are locked
Hacking is something I would think we
are all on top of with decent security scan-
ners. Mind you, if 123456 is the most popular
password, I probably should not assume that.
Remote access, where a scam caller purport-
ing to be from Apple or Outlook convinces
you to allow remote access to your system
so they can “fix it”, is very popular as is
introducing malware into your system.
Fake online profiles are very common,
and if an online stranger is asking for your
pet’s name, you can be certain they are
grooming you for potential passwords.
Falling prey to the bad guys can cost you
dearly. The Australian Institute of Criminol-
ogy says victims of identity theft are left out
of pocket by an average of $3696, though in
some cases losses have exceeded $500,000.
Protecting yourself from identity fraud
or an online scam is the same as locking
your front door. Cyber crooks typically get
hold of personal details by hacking our
computers or via email or social media.
So make sure you have the latest security
software installed on all digital devices,
including computers, tablets and phones,
and keep them updated. Use unique
passwords and change them regularly.
Nothing is perfect but at least do the
electronic equivalent of locking your doors!