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

Keeping your passwords after horoscope star signs like Gemini, Cancer, Libra, Scorpio etc can be dangerous! Don’t use Zodiac signs as passwords, follow these astro tips instead

Astrology fans should not use horoscope star signs such as Gemini, Cancer, Libra, Scorpio for passwords. Zodiac signs as passwords are risky, check these astro tips, stay safe (Pixabay)

We have been doing this series to highlight the fact that a majority of people still use extremely simple and easy to guess passwords for important online accounts. These passwords can be anything from the word password to horoscope star signs. But it will not take a hacker more than a couple of minutes to correctly guess and break into your account. Once they do, they can steal your information and even your money. Astrology fans, in particular, need to pay attention so that they don't push their love for Zodiac signs into the realm of digital security. For instance, Libra can be a great star sign which represents balance, but it is still a very bad password to pick. 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.

Do understand that choosing a password is not a game of what you can remember the easiest. It should, instead be such a combination of random alphabets, numbers and special characters that no hacker can easily break into your account. And we are not the only ones saying it. 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. So, check the following worst passwords to keep and make sure you do not have any one of them as your passwords.

The worst passwords to keep

From Libra to ‘iloveyou' to Cat, the list of weak passwords are plenty. But there are some passwords which are 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 find them silly, millions of people are using these weak passwords. Check out the list below.

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 never use these passwords for any purpose, especially your online bank accounts or work accounts.

Horoscope passwords are not a good choice either

The abovementioned report also found out that horoscope star sign passwords ranked in the 20th place 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 September or first half of October keeps the password Libra, then a hacker will have no problem guessing it. Not only Libra but all horoscope based passwords like Scorpio, Gemini, Capricorn, Aquarius, Aries 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.

Make your password strong and unique

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.