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Written by Luay Alfaham, Senior Partner Networks Manager, Cyber Aware, Home Office

Let’s face it, at some point each year we all have some self-reflection time and some sort of personal stock take – a pause, while we take a closer look at a particular aspect of our lives, followed by a period of ‘reset.’

Last week, based on the theme of ‘resetting’, Cyber Aware launched its latest campaign, #OneReset, which puts a spotlight on protecting email accounts by resetting them with a strong and separate password.

The campaign aimed to highlight how the UK public’s email passwords are leaving their accounts wide open to hackers. A new survey from the campaign and global information services company Experian has revealed over half of respondents (52%) aged 18-25 and 27% of respondents from all age groups reuse their email password across multiple accounts.

A weak password coupled with the ‘treasure trove’ of information in your email can be used by hackers to access many of your personal accounts, by asking for your passwords to be reset, and by exploiting your personal information, such as your bank details, address or date of birth, leaving you vulnerable to identity theft or fraud. That’s why Cyber Aware’s #OneReset campaign is encouraging people to consider adding a simple email reset to their existing list of ‘life changes’.

Nearly half of all businesses reported a cyber breach or attack in the last year alone, leaving thousands of reputations damaged, websites offline and customer data exposed. This rises to two-thirds among medium-sized firms (66%) and large firms (68%). As leaders in innovation representing the technologies that are defining the future, it is important for us to encourage others to take steps towards being more secure online.

Alongside this, there is the impact of you or your business being a victim of a cyber attack and the time it takes to recover from it. As Digital Leaders, it is something that you all need to take responsibility for – as individuals, employees and businesses – to help to combat. We want industry to help in highlighting the cyber threats the UK faces and support the recommended advice to help people and businesses protect themselves.

It is also worthwhile considering that whilst resetting to a strong and separate email password, what else can you reset in your life? Is there one small thing you can take the time to change that will then have a big impact? Our working lives are so busy that this reminder might help you in finally engaging in exercise, expanding your mind by reading that new book or putting pen to paper and coming up with that new idea!

We recommend all our members to consider a reset this month, both in and outside of the office. Use a strong and separate password for your email (using three random words). The second reset is completely down to you – but we’d love to hear about it when you do! #OneReset.

For advice on simple ways to be more secure online, visit the Cyber Aware website 

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