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

Keeping your passwords after horoscope star signs like Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, 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, Virgo, Scorpio for passwords. Zodiac signs as passwords are risky, check these astro tips, stay safe (Pixabay)

With Astrology deep rooted in India's culture and history, its popularity is understandable. From newspapers, online websites, YouTube channels and apps, horoscope star signs and zodiac sign predictions are everywhere. Millions of people in India are astrology fans, but the problem begins when the enthusiasm for astrology transcends to the online security space. If your password for any online account is Virgo, Gemini or Scorpio, then change it now! It is very dangerous to keep these passwords. So, here is our astrology tip of the day for you - make your password strong and unique to protect from hackers and scammers. And if you don't know how to do it, that's okay. We have shared some tips to make your passwords strong and unique. Follow our astro tips to avoid getting hacked.

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. Besides these, check the worst passwords that you can keep for your account, below.

Most hacked passwords you should avoid

From Virgo to ‘iloveyou' to iPhone, 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.

Why Horoscope passwords are not a good 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 July or first half of August keeps the password Leo, then a hacker will have no problem guessing it. Not only Leo 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:

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.