76 million reasons to change your password

If you’re unlucky enough to be the victim of a cyber-attack, the cyber-cops are sure to ask about your password.

And if you’ve just been relieved of a lifetime’s worth of savings, your insurers are going to take a pretty dim view if your answer is something along the lines of …

PASSWORD123

Which is about as close to leaving the key in the door as you can get.

And it’s not just the likes of you and me who get caught out.

The highly paid security ninjas at the Louvre in Paris really got caught with their pants down last month when a bunch of unprincipled rascals broke in and stole some £76 million worth of jewellery.

The Louvre has, or more likely, had two security systems in place, and you may or may not be surprised to learn that …

The password for System 1 was ‘Louvre’.

And the password for System 2 was ‘Thales’, which just happened to be the name of their security firm.

And we think we’re taking risks by using our pet’s name.

It’s easy to laugh at the predicament of our Gauloises-loving friends across the Channel, but it could so easily be us on the end of a proverbial ransom note.

A timely reminder that the season for giving is almost upon us, and the season for taking is well and truly here.

Until next week.

Alec