You should also protect other accounts, such as social media.
These days you need dozens of usernames and passwords for everything from checking your bills to connecting to your home Wi-Fi.
That means it can be tempting to make them easy to remember. But choosing strong passwords and updating them regularly can help to protect yourself against financial fraud.
It’s a good idea to make sure you have a strong and separate password for your email accounts as well. If criminals hack into those, they could reset your other passwords.
You can create a strong, memorable password by using 3 random words. Add numbers and symbols as well if you like to make your password even stronger.
An example would be something like this:
TurfChainPasta4!
Don't use things that can be easily guessed, like your favourite football team or TV show.
Save your passwords in your web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge) to make sure you don't lose or forget them.
This is safer than using a weak password or using the same password for more than one account.
Another way of creating a strong password is to take the first letter or symbol of an easy-to-remember sentence.
For example, My Dog Is Called Cyril And I Live At 45 Acacia Avenue Staines could become this:
MDICCAILA45AAS
Adding 5 exclamation marks would make it even stronger:
MDICCAILA45AAS!!!!!
That's a complex 19-character password that's easy to remember.
Don’t use anything that would be easy to work out, such as:
Don’t use any of the following either:
Never write down your passwords or share them with anyone.
Also, don’t use the same user ID and password for online banking and other services.
Remember: we'll never ask you for your password. If you receive a call or email from someone claiming to be an HSBC employee, government official or even a member of law enforcement and they ask you for your password, ignore the call and contact us immediately.
