The one thing you definitely shouldn't use as your password

The one thing you definitely shouldn't use as your password
The one thing you definitely shouldn't use as your password

When it comes to choosing a password, a lot of us pick a special date, place or maybe a pet's name.

Sadly it looks like 'Lassie123' just isn't going to cut it these days.

See also: Whatever else you leave in your will - don't forget your passwords

See also: Too many accounts leaves us at risk from hackers and scammers

Why is that? Because it's easy to hack, according to cyber-security firm, BehavioSec.

They say if you're going to use your pet's name as your password, it better be good!

They just teamed up with animal charity Bidawee to name five pets, all up for adoption.

But these aren't your average pet names - they're hacker-proof because they're uncommon, hard to pronounce, but still easy for kids to shorten.

The names are inspired by religious, historical and mythological cultures.

Passwords that are a mix of the names, blended with numbers and special characters are often the most effective.

The cyber security firm says pet names in general make for poor passwords because people tend to use the same or similar ones.

For example, common pet names in the USA include Bella and Charlie.

Names so easy are in danger of a dictionary attack, where a hacker can run a list of passwords through a program to spit out thousands of entries.

So yes, it will definitely find Bella123.

The company says their goal is to make people aware of how ineffective their passwords might be, while raising awareness about animal adoption at the same time.

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