Change your password NOW: Millions of Britons are being hacked 'every' week
BRITONS urgently need to check whether their online accounts are safe as millions of passwords are being hacked every week.
The scale of the UK password crisis has been underlined by new research which shows Britons are being hacked every second of the day. A study from leading VPN provider NordVPN - who feature in our best VPN deals guide - shows that 330 people are being hacked every minute in the UK. This means 5.5 hacks that place every second, with millions of accounts compromised every single week.
NordVPN says the scale of this problem is so big as most people that have been hacked don't realise they're a victim.
Almost half (48.1 percent) of people involved in the NordVPN study said they had come across a pop-up advert that was difficult to close in the past 12 months.
This is a sign of hacking, as is having your email account hijacked so that spam is then sent to friends and colleagues - something 30.4 percent of people in the study were affected by.
A similar amount (30.2 percent) said websites had opened in their browser without being clicked on, which is another sign of hacking.
These findings from NordVPN come off the back of another recent study which said the UK is one of the most hacked countries in the world.
BBC Scam Interceptors: Hackers reveal tricks of trade
Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN said hacking had become an "epidemic" in the UK.
Warmenhoven said: "Hacking has reached epidemic proportions in the UK. Some of the attacks happen so often that people don’t even regard them as cyber crime. However, each of the incidents we included in the study wouldn’t be possible without hacking or one kind or another.
"Encountering even those incidents that appear innocuous, like hard-to-close internet pop-ups, should cause alarm and prompt you to check for malware. Lurking behind each of these digital misadventures is a hacker resorting to crime to make money. Don’t make it easy for them."
Advising people on how to stay safe, NordVPN offered some pointers to improve their online security.
The leading VPN provider recommended...
Use strong passwords - Take advantage of modern features in computers and mobile phones that suggest strong passwords for you
Encrypt your files - Even if someone got hold of your files, they would not be able to access them
Use common sense - Don’t click on suspicious links or ads, and avoid opening suspicious messages or websites. Do not give out personal data to people or companies you don’t know
Keep your social accounts private - Make your social media pages visible only to people you know and trust
Do not share your personal information - Keep details like your phone number or home address out of the public eye
Use a VPN service - It will encrypt your traffic and hackers won’t be able to see what you do online
If you're thinking of signing up to a VPN service to level up your security set-up you can find some of the best deals around below...