Warning to East Midlands bosses: Could your password be guessed from your digital footprint?
A surprising number of passwords can be guessed by cyber criminals studying someone’s digital footprint, a local data security expert has warned.
“The internet never forgets content you posted years ago,” said Glen Palmer-Barnes from Eastwood based Ace IT Solutions, “even though you do.”
“Cyber criminals use a range of tools to try to access a business’s accounts. Automated tools that brute force try thousands of weak passwords are popular.
“But so is social engineering, where they will study a person’s digital footprint to look for ideas. You might consider using your childhood dog’s name to be a safe password, but it probably isn’t.
“Especially when you did a Facebook post 7 years ago about how much you miss your dog… including its name.”
Glen explained that everyone has a digital footprint – information about them that can be accessed by anyone online.
Bosses of local companies might be careful about what they post today. But cyber criminals will look up content from when they were much younger.
“It’s important to use a different password for each account. The National Cyber Security Centre advises using three random words to create a longer difficult to guess password.”, Glen added.
“You can also use software called a password manager to remember these passwords for you, and fill in the login boxes across all of your devices.”
Ace IT Solutions was formed in 2014 and specialises in supporting local businesses in the Nottingham, Derby and the East Midlands.
More News From Amber Valley Info
| Council urges drivers to 'take it home' as A38 spring clean starts Amber Valley Borough Council is urging drivers to take it home as its annual spring clean of the A38 gets under wa read more | |
| From pirate flags to policy papers, The Grammar shows its range One day the historic main hall was filled with children making pirate flags. The next, councillors gathered around po read more | |
| Hand-painted art and hidden ducks transform Amber Valley's high street windows Nearly 50 independent businesses across Alfreton, Belper, Heanor and Ripley are seeing their shopfront read more | |
| Key Role For Derbyshire County Council Library In World Book Day 2026 Ripley Library has again been named as a hub for World Book Day, with the aim of helping more children learn to read more | |
| Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has successfully completed its ambitious Restoration Project Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has successfully completed its ambitious ‘Restoration of lost read more | |
The Amber Valley Info Noticeboard
| Food waste recycling is coming to Amber Valley From June 2026, Amber Valley Borough Council will introduce weekly food waste recycling across the borough as part of a phased roll-ou read more | |
| Stallholder Bookings Now Open For The Tansley Big Day Out We're excited to announce that Tansley's Big Day Out 2026 will take place on 6th & 7th June 2026! read more | |
| Christmas and New Year bin collection dates Over the festive season, bin collections will operate on revised schedules. Some collections may take place up to two days earlier than u read more | |
| Launch Of WOMBLE MANIA! At the Heights of Abraham, Opened by Marcus Robertson, Son of Wombles author, Elisabeth Beresford, officially launched WOMBLE MANIA! at the Heights of Abraha read more | |
| Belper School and Sixth Form Centre Closed Today Due to a significant water leak, resulting in the water being turned off at school, we unfortunately have to close the school today. read more | |
