Astrology fan? Is your password GEMINI? This horoscope based password is DANGEROUS; check astro tips

Astrology fans often create social media, bank account passwords after their horoscope star signs like Gemini, Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn etc. This Zodiac sign habit is dangerous, check astro tips.

Astrology fans should know that using your horoscope star signs such as Gemini, Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn as passwords may get account hacked. Zodiac sign as password is dangerous, check astro tips (Dorothe/Pixabay)

We are all guilty of the bad habit of keeping passwords to various online accounts too simple in order to remember them. From birthdays, lover's name, pets to even horoscope star signs. However, these are very dangerous passwords as they are very weak and hackers can crack them in a few seconds. If you are an Astrology enthusiast and you create your passwords on basis of your Zodiac sign, it will be very easy to guess. Is your password Gemini? Is the password Aries? Or maybe the password is Scorpio or Capricorn? Just how difficult can it be for a hacker to guess and steal not only your personal information but also your money! So as far as Astro tips go, do not keep a password that is easy to guess. Read on to find out how to make passwords strong. We have shared some tips to make your passwords strong and unique based on a report by Dojo tech. Check out the really important Astrology tips linked to your password creating habits below.

A recent 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 take. Out of 30, horoscope star signs made it to the 20th position in the list with over 204 incidents of hacking. That means 204 people with the password Gemini, Aries, Cancer, Scorpio or Capricorn were hacked in just the UK. And these are not just social media accounts that were hacked. Any account can be hacked from your personal and professional email, bank accounts and even accounts with access to government portals.

Weak passwords you should be avoiding

From Gemini to ‘iloveyou', the list of weak passwords are endless. However, there are some passwords which are weaker than others. Yes, even worse than horoscope based passwords! In fact, these passwords are so bad that they made it to Dojo's top 5 most commonly hacked passwords list. And despite how silly you may think these are, millions of people are using these weak passwords. Check out the list.

1. 123456 (used by 23.2 million users)

2. 123456789 (7.7 million users)

3. Qwerty (3.8 million users)

4. Password (3.6 million users)

5. 1111111 (3.1 million users)

Please do not use these passwords.

The risk with horoscope based passwords

While horoscope star signs as passwords are ranked 20 out of 30 in the worst passwords list, the risks are significantly higher. As a person's Zodiac sign is determined by their date of birth, a very common piece of information, it is quite easy to guess someone's pssword. So if a person born in the later half of May or first half of June keeps the password Gemini, then a hacker will have no problem guessing it. Not only Gemini but all horoscope based passwords like Scorpio, Aries, Capricorn, Aquarius, Cancer and others are at a similar risk. There are a total of 12 Astrology passwords so a hacker will not really need a lot of time to guess the right one. These astro tips with a difference show that you must not use weak passwords like these. This was reported by London-headquartered financial services firm Dojo 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 make your password strong and unique

Step 1:

Keep your passwords a mix of numbers, alphabets and special characters to make it hard to guess. Randomize these characters for better efficiency.

Step 2:

Make sure to have a password which is at least 8-12 characters long. Longer passwords will make it harder for a hacker to figure out correctly.

Step 3:

Use two-factor authentication or if possible 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:

Change your password regularly so even if your password was compromised, your account can stay safe.

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.