Research inspired by the Yahoo IT security beach last week, where hackers broke onto servers and stole 450,000 passwords which provided access to users personal information including home addresses and birth dates. The credit- checking company Experian has stated that 12 million pieces of personal data were traded online by fraudsters between January and April, this represents threefold increase since the same time frame in 2010.Further research by Experian suggested that the typical consumer has on average 5 passwords but most have over 26 separate on-line logins. The suggestions from the Government and the worldwide security IT companies are to use long and complicated passwords with none that are repeated on multiple sites and ensure they are updated and changed regularly. Recently created reports also suggest that the use of online random password generators should not be used for secure services such as bank accounts. These should be created as unique from the individual.
