If you’re reading this, you have a holiday to add to your calendar: Change Your Password Day, which is celebrated annually on February 1.
Now, most of our transactions occur online; thus, our personal and confidential information is liable to be hacked. This makes it important to keep our online data safe by changing our passwords. Do you know that the average American’s fear is getting hacked?
Imagine waking up to realize that your bank account has been hacked, or your online store card has been cloned and your payments intercepted. That sure sends shivers.
With the increase in online transactions and activities, hacking seems to be a booming business. This called for awareness about personal cybersecurity and the need to change one’s password regularly.
This was recognized by Matt Buchanan, who had gotten hacked twice and felt it would be good for a day to be set to remind everyone to change their passwords. Change Your Password Day was first celebrated in 2012.
Research proves that one is responsible for the cyberattacks they face, as many hackers admit that many online users have poor security and are easily hackable.
This is because we form simple, easy-to-remember passwords and use them for all our internet accounts. These passwords are easy to guess, making us susceptible to hack attacks.
Getting hacked on a personal scale might not affect us much. But it is a deathly blow to companies as they experience heavy losses and may crumble under it. Stock prices of such companies will fall if they are hacked.
Yahoo is an example of a large company that got hacked. Many other organizations have reported system breaches and record theft. This is even harder for smaller businesses that are easy prey to hacks.
The rate of hacking has reportedly increased since the Covid-19 pandemic and will continually remain a threat to online technology unless users take precautionary measures to avoid it.
