Changing your password can be annoying. But with the rise of online scams, perhaps it’s time to swap “password1234” for something less obvious.
A compilation of 8.4 billion words, phrases and previous password leaks was shared on a hacker forum in what Cyber News, a website specializing in cybersecurity, is calling “RockYou2021.”
Financial expert Kelley Keehn recently joined The Morning Show to discuss how this might affect Canadians and tips on protecting yourself from online scams.
Keehn says you can check if your data has been leaked on Cyber News.
She recommends choosing a password that doesn’t include your personal information and isn’t easy to guess.
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“It’s not as complex as you think,” she says, adding that a capital letter, a few numbers and a symbol can go a long way.
Many of us have been relying heavily on the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic and Keehn says we can expect an increase in online scams.
“We’re sharing our information more than ever,” Keehn says, adding that data is exposed on more than just our social media accounts and we need to be cautious.
For more information on protecting yourself from online scams, watch the full video above.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that RockYou2021 was a recent data breach, consisting of 8.4 billion passwords. It has been confirmed that the compilation released on the forum was a combination of words and phrases found on Wikipedia and other previous leaked lists. Some of the words on the list have not been used as passwords and no new data has been breached. The headline and article has been updated.
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