TOP TIP OF THE YEAR:

REGISTER FOR A FREE ‘CLEAR SCORE’ ACCOUNT, UNDER THEIR PROTECT SECTION THERE IS AN OPTION TO SEARCH FOR YOUR STOLEN PASSWORDS ON THE DARK WEB. It will show any related passwords linked to your email available on the dark web.

GOLDEN RULES:

• Email password must always be unique on its own YOUR EMAIL IS THE GATEWAY TO EVERYTHING ELSE. (Obviously, make all banking unique as well).
• Don’t use the same password for sites that store cards such as Screwfix (Toolstation does not store cards).
• Personally, I now never store cards on websites, I manually enter every time; takes a little longer, but keeps you safer.

MY PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

• 90% of the population has uppercase for the first letter, I never do, as I hold the shift key for a symbol, I always have my uppercase letter just before the symbol, thus I am holding down the shift for 2 consecutive strokes, resulting in a more efficient password entry.
• To help me remember banking passwords, I link the first letter with towns, street name or suburbs I have lived in, e.g. Barclays Bristol, NatWest Nottingham.
• Old postcodes can be used being alpha-numerical, if you forget the postcode, you can look it up on royal mail.
• When you need a 5 or 6 digit passcode for a bank for example, some people to use, part of your current passport number, digits from your NI number or driving licence number and forces service number if you have served.

Much more information about passwords and password managers is in my book.