Trust is placed in friends and family and earned by those we don’t know. Our communities depend on it and will not arise spontaneously without it. Trust is an integral part of our lives. Problematic is that in today's hectic business environment, we are often forced to interact at a moment's notice with people we just don’t know. We may be required to admit them access to critical infrastructure that underpins the very foundation of our business. Even when we know them, do we really know it's them we are interacting with the entire time?

Malicious actors are unscrupulous and will invest large amounts of time attempting to profit from your personal information. Unfortunately, it is estimated over half a billion stolen passwords are floating around on the internet, many of them on sale to the highest bidder. Being on the receiving end of this illicit trade, can be life-changing. But its not all bad news! Thankfully there are helpful practices you can implement right now to mitigate this problem. Here’s our guide on how to know and what to do when your password is compromised.

‘00000000’ – Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile launch code Alarmingly at one time, the U.S. had no secret launch codes on its nuclear missiles at all. Then in 1962, the White House had them installed in an attempt to bring some sense of security. Despite the strong objections of the U.S. Strategic Air Command who bemoaned that the extra protection may affect deployability speeds, the codes became a reality. However, to effectively circumvent the White House directive, the “secret unlock codes” were set to eight zeros.

Your business is only as secure as how you store and manage your passwords. Often overlooked, passwords are the first line of defence to protecting your business from anyone and a strong password can often make the difference. However sometimes no matter how strong a password is they still fall into the wrong hands. How passwords are stored plays a vital role in the safety of your business and ensuring that only authorised users can access approved applications.

1.4 Billion hacked and leaked passwords have been collated in a single file and are currently sitting on the dark web. Security firm 4iQ who discovered the files say that rather than this being a new breach it is a collection of several previous breaches. None of the passwords are encrypted and all the data has been put into a searchable, interactive database.

Cyber security is of vital importance in the modern world and creating secure passwords is at the forefront of protecting your personal accounts. It's common knowledge that people still manage to use passwords such as ‘abc123’ and ‘password’ to protect laptops and computers with sensitive information available just by guessing the correct combination.