Email hacking - why using complex passwords has never been more important

Many of you will have friends or family who have experienced criminal attempts to access their personal data in recent years. Unfortunately, we continue to be aware of a high number of incidents of email hacking. Worryingly, in some instances the same individuals have fallen victim to this crime on more than one occasion when an email account is hacked months or years after the original incident. All staff are vigilant and follow our rigorous security procedures at all times. We are particularly stringent when verifying your identity so please bear with us as we follow these protocols – the extra time taken is intended to keep you and your assets safe. We also highly recommend that you use the encrypted messaging system available in YourCAM to exchange sensitive data with your CAM team or to send confidential documents, such as copies of bank statements.

Using complex passwords is key. This means that your password for email and other online systems uses a mixture of letters, numbers and punctuation and does not rely on personal data, such as the names of your dogs or the birth date of your granddaughter. Security experts also recommend two factor authentication where available to access systems that contain confidential data. This means a passcode will be sent to your mobile if you want to access online banking or credit card data. See the Government’s Action Fraud website for more information: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/secureyouraccounts

If you do believe it is possible that you have been hacked, telephone us as soon as possible and also let friends, family and other key service providers, such as your building society, know. Sadly, we are experiencing a significant number of situations where clients re-use an email address that is hacked and some time later are victims of cyber crime again. This can arise because the original hackers retain confidential information or sell data online to other criminals. We strongly advise you to consider changing your email address, however inconvenient, and to engage specialist IT experts, such as BT, to ensure that your computer is ‘clean’.

We are here to help support you so please get in touch.