Is Scorpio your Password? Astrology fans, don’t use horoscope star signs for THIS! Check astro tips

Astrology fans often keep passwords after their horoscope star signs like Cancer, Aries, Scorpio, Gemini etc. However, using horoscope star signs for account safety is dangerous. Top astro tips inside.

Astrology fans should not use horoscope star signs such as Gemini, Cancer, Scorpio, Scorpio for passwords. Zodiac signs as passwords are risky. (Pixabay)

One of the biggest mistakes that can lead to an online account getting hacked is weak passwords. Any password that uses a word, phrase or numbers relating to the user or are easy to guess are generally considered weak. Passwords that include names, horoscope star signs, phone numbers etc should definitely be avoided. A particular trend that has been observed is people's inclination of using their zodiac sign such as Gemini, Scorpio or Aquarius as passwords. Astrology fans, please do not do this. Enthusiasm for astrology is great but using those elements in online security will always lead to getting hacked. So, here is our astrology tip of the day for you - please make your passwords stronger and more unique to protect from hackers and scammers. If you are confused how to do it, that's fine. We have shared some tips to make your passwords strong and unique. Follow our astro tips to avoid getting hacked.

A common mistake people make is to keep the password something easy so they can remember it later. However, this is not a good strategy. Because these are the passwords which get hacked into the most. Recently, a report analyzed UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) data “on over 100,000 breached passwords” to categorize the most vulnerable passwords that a person can create. It found that not only horoscope star signs but names, endearing terms and even pet names were listed as passwords which were breached the most amount of times. Zodiac signs like Aries, Leo, Gemini, Cancer, Scorpio made it to the 20th position on the same list, highlighting how bad a choice they are when it comes to passwords. Check out the worst offenders in the password department below. And if you wish to improve your password security health, we have also offered some suggestions on how to make it more secure.

The worst passwords choices

From Scorpio to ‘iloveyou' to your phone number, the list of weak passwords abound. But there are some passwords which are way worse than others. Yes, even worse than horoscope based passwords! In fact, these passwords are so bad that they made it to the report's top 5 most commonly hacked passwords list. And even if you think they are silly and nobody keeps these passwords, do remember that according to the report, millions of people are using them. Check out the list below.

123456 (used by 23.2 million users)

123456789 (7.7 million users)

Qwerty (3.8 million users)

Password (3.6 million users)

1111111 (3.1 million users)

Ensure not to ever use these passwords for any purpose, especially your online bank accounts or work accounts. If any of these passwords are in an account you use, change it now.

Horoscope passwords are also a poor choice

The same report found out that horoscope star sign passwords ranked 20 out of 30 in the list of most vulnerable passwords. Since a person's Zodiac sign is decided by their date of birth, a very common piece of information, it is quite easy to guess someone's password. For example, if a person born in the later half of October or the first half of November keeps the password Scorpio, then a hacker will have no problem guessing it. Not only Scorpio but all horoscope based passwords like Aries, Gemini, Capricorn, Aquarius, Capricorn and others are at exactly the same risk. Take our astro tips with a difference given below that will help you pick a stronger and more unique password to keep the hackers at bay. This was reported by London-headquartered financial services firm Dojo, which came out with a report on ‘Top most hacked passwords'. Astrology tips are all very well and you can follow them freely, but not as passwords.

How to improve your password

Step 1:

Make sure your passwords are a combination of numbers, alphabets and special characters to make it hard to predict. Randomize these characters for added security.

Step 2:

Keep a password which is at least 8-12 characters long. Longer passwords will make it harder for a hacker to figure out correctly. Shorter passwords will take the hacker less attempts to figure out.

Step 3:

Use two-factor authentication. If possible, go for multi factor authentication to have multiple hurdles before someone can hack into your account. Mobile OTP is a very good way to add layers to your password security.

Step 4:

Do change your password frequently to ensure that even if your password is compromised, you can change the password before anyone can misuse it.

Step 5:

Do not write down your passwords on cheque books, or other bank account books or papers you have. Do not send them on social media like WhatsApp, Facebook etc either.