Too Simple as 1-2-3-4

This month is a good time to reset your passwords.

This is fraud prevention month in Canada and can be a reminder that we should regularly strengthen the protection of our digital world and one way is to update our passwords. A host of governments and companies have joined forces to help combat fraud which seems to be getting more prevalent as criminals around the world become more and more adept at separating us from our money.

Last year, Canadians were scammed for almost $100 million, according to federal numbers. So it’s not small potatoes and no one is immune – even sophisticated players can get tricked as we saw with the City of Saskatoon.

In a release on the topic, an RBC Royal Bank  survey showed that more than half of Canadians shared their PIN numbers and nearly half use a PIN number that is easily broken – like a birthdate or something as simple as 1-2-3-4.

They advise adopting a new idea called a pass phrase as a password…it involves stringing together a few random words as the length of a password is a key to strengthening it.