One in six people in the UK use their pet’s name as their password for their online accounts, leaving themselves more vulnerable to fraudsters.
A recent study also discovered that 49% of people use the same password for all their accounts, another risky practice.
The five most popular passwords are names of pets, mother's maiden name, dates of birth and even a person’s own name.
Obvious codewords are easily hacked by criminals trawling the internet looking for people to scam.
The average cost to the victim of online crime is £236.
Mobile devices were found to be even more poorly protected, with only 42% of individuals using passwords or PIN numbers on them.
The information comes from a survey of 2,000 people in Britain conducted by Get Safe Online (GSO).
Passwords, it advises, should be at least eight characters in length and should not contain a complete word. Even then, the password should be broken up with keyboard symbols.
The research revealed that 90% of PCs and laptops have anti-virus protection, but the percentage falls to just 25% for mobile phones and tablets. This puts them at significant risk of spyware, spam, viruses and fraud.
Cyber crime could be prevented, GSO says, by adopting better security measures whether at home or at work. It also encouraged victims to report it to the appropriate authority whether that is a social media site, Action Fraud or the police.
The government’s security minister welcomed advice from GSO and said it has launched the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Crime Unit.
