Be Careful of Your Online Security

A PayPal Australia research showed that Australians don’t pay much attention on their online security. 65 percent of the respondents said they are more careful with their PINs rather than their online passwords.

PayPal Australia surveyed 1,000 Australians. The results indicated that about 47 percent maintain 10 or more accounts online. However, only 67 percent of these maintain five or fewer passwords.

About 22 percent of these passwords are personal information like birthdays, nicknames, etc. Only half of the responds said they change their passwords only when the system prompts them to do so.

According to Adrian Christie, Aussies need to be more vigilant in safeguarding their passwords. The same level of vigilance should be given both to PINs and online passwords. Christie is the spokesman for PayPal.

Christie said that each online account should have a different password and Aussies must avoid using personal information as passwords. Although these are easy to remember, Christie said it’s better to be more creative my mixing special characters, uppercase letters or numbers.

He added that about one in four people use personal data in their passwords and that’s why it easy for hackers to commit online fraud. Christie also warned against writing down PINs or passwords.

If needed, password list should be stored in a safe place and not near the computer.