Keep It Secret, Keep IT Safe

Was anybody really that amazed when the government lost millions of people’s personal data? Any shock that it has happened again? Perhaps a trifle of surprise that the Americans are up to the same tricks? No, me neither…

Data security is a serious business, yet far too few people actually do anything about it. While we all tut-tutted that the government would send a CD through the post with so much personal information on it, are the rest of us any better?

We are often told that we have to provide a password. So many passwords, so little space in our heads. Let’s just use our child/dog/partner’s name and it’s easy to remember. Big mistake!

Any hacker can find out some basics about you and then get into your life. However, what can they really do once they have your password?

Well, imagine this… a nice gentleman finds out that your wife is called Marlene and that your email address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it – they now have a good chance of hacking into your email account and getting access to every single email you have sent or received. From that, they read your bank account details (because you get your statement online), your passport number (which you emailed to a hotel in Marbella for last year’s holiday), your driving licence number (when you hired a car) and of course basics like your address.

Your identity is now stolen and your bank account transferred to Nigeria.

So, partners’ names are not a good idea. Maybe a long word then, as that is easy to remember? Well sadly that is pretty easy to crack too as there are a mere one million words in English. Cracking software would take no time to go through them.

Your best bet is to mix it up a bit: mix upper and lower cases, add in some numbers and some punctuation. Then it is a case of the longer the better.

The next little secret is to have three or four different passwords: one for high security stuff (bank accounts, email login etc), the next for medium-level stuff like Amazon, then a third for when you have to register on a website you’ve never heard of (would you give your bank account password to this site?)

If you want to know more, check out this helpful site http://www.surrey.police.uk/computer_crime_item.asp?artid=1073

So what has all of this got to do with marketing? Well, the fact is that marketers (and I use the word loosely) are the biggest data thieves of all. Give away your email address to the wrong person and you will end up deluged with adverts for “Herbal Remedies”. Forget to tick that tiny box at the bottom of a form and your doormat becomes a landing spot for every piece of junk.

It only has to happen once, so be careful or we’re gonna get ya!

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