The government is urging people in Cambridgeshire to be vigilant against cyber crime by changing their online passwords to three random words.

he call comes following the latest government statistics from Ipsos MORI, which have revealed that only 34 per cent of people in the east are following the government’s advice to strengthen their passwords.

An estimated two million cyber crime offences were committed last year, and security minister Ben Wallace is urging people in Cambridgeshire to keep their passwords secret after it was revealed that a quarter of people in the region have shared their online passwords with other people.

He said: “Tackling cyber crime not only requires a concerted response from law enforcement and Government but also vigilance from members of the public. While the Government will invest £1.9 billion in cyber security over the next years, we can all make a difference and protect ourselves from cyber crime by taking some very simple steps, such as using three random words to create a strong password”.

Rebecca Tinsley, cyber security advisor at Cambridgeshire Constabulary, said: “Traditionally, the ultimate strong password was considered to be long with multitude of symbols, numbers and capital letters.

“Although this makes for quite a secure a password, they’re harder to remember. This means people either choose weak passwords instead or they compromise them by writing them down. The easiest way to create a strong, memorable password is to use three random words.”

The Cyber Aware campaign (formerly Cyber Streetwise) is funded by the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) and was launched in 2014 with the objective of providing individuals and small businesses with the knowledge to take control of their cyber security and help protect themselves from cyber criminals.