Almost half of Australians have easy-to-guess passwords, resulting in more than $190 million (US$127 million) being lost to online scams and hackers so far this year.
Some 46 percent use weak passwords to protect their online accounts, a survey conducted for Telstra found.
And almost one in 10 base their passwords on their favourite sports club and twice as many use their pet’s name.
Australians have already lost $194 million (US$129.6 million) to scams and hacking in 2023, according to ScamWatch.
Telstra cybersecurity expert Darren Pauli says uniqueness is key to having a secure password.
“The more common your password is, the more you’re exposed to password guessing attempts,” Pauli told AAP….