Passwords serve as the foundation of our digital lives, but they also serve as the gateway for cybercriminals to hack into sensitive personal information. Considering their essential function, passwords remain a prime target for increasingly sophisticated cybercriminal attacks.

Therefore, taking proactive measures to safeguard accounts and personal information is imperative.

To mark World Password Day on May 2nd – highlighting the essential role passwords play in protecting our lives online – Kaspersky experts are providing essential tips to enhance password security, ensuring that users data stays out of the hands of attackers.

Weak and simple passwords have always been an attractive target for scammers as cracking them gives criminals access to multiple types of data – personal data, financial information, medical records etc.

Kaspersky telemetry indicates more than 32 million attempts to attack users with password stealers took place in 2023, this followed more than 40 million incursions in 2022.

These alarming statistics highlight the need for users to create strong, unique and varied passwords for different accounts. This way they can mitigate the risks of cyber threats and maintain personal security online.

To enhance password security, Kaspersky experts recommend the following steps and practices:

The ‘association method’ helps create strong and memorable passwords

The association approach involves creating a password from a sequence of words or ideas that have personal significance but are not easily guessable by others. A password can be based on a favourite quote, a memorable song lyric, or a unique combination of objects. This technique generates strong passwords without requiring complex memorisation, helping to maintain security while reducing the risk of forgetting. For example, a phrase “I first visited Paris in 2008” could be transformed into a password “IfvPin2o:o8”.

Are regular passwords too boring? How about emoji?

If using the same password everywhere becomes too much and you lack the imagination to make up something new, emoji-passwords could be a non-standard and safe option. Since they are a part of the Unicode standard, it is potentially possible to use them as passwords.

One of the most significant pros is that scammers cannot brute-force emoji-passwords, since various tools and dictionaries can’t crack combinations like these. More detailed information on how to set up an emoji password and the necessary requirements is available here.

The most obvious option is not the safest one

Using common passwords or default values such as “1234”, “password” or “admin” could make personal data and accounts vulnerable to scammers, since they use automated tools to guess the correct combinations.

It may take several seconds to find the right answer and gain access to personal data. A strong and complicated password includes a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols, while avoiding personal information such as names or birthdays.

Additionally, there are online public free services that allow everyone check how strong their passwords are to mitigate possible risks.

Old, but gold: one account – one password

This practice ensures that if one account is compromised, others remain secure. By creating a unique password for each account, you minimise the damage a hacker can do if they manage to steal one.

This approach isolates security breaches and helps protect sensitive data. According to a global survey, the average user has approximately 8 accounts. Remembering even 2-3 long and complicated passwords (containing up to 15 symbols) could be impossible for the majority of users.

In this case it is both safe and useful to shift the responsibility of remembering all the passwords to a security solution, such as Kaspersky Password Manager.

Kaduna State Government, in partnership with Google and Data Science Nigeria (DSN), introduced the inaugural “AI for Beginners in Hausa,” marking the first instance of artificial intelligence (AI) training in a local language.

In Northern Nigeria, various challenges can impact access to tech education and career opportunities. These include diverse socio-cultural dynamics, infrastructural limitations, and language barriers. Photo: @Gov Uba Sani X handle

Sen. Uba Sani, Kaduna State governor, expressed profound gratitude to the partners for building support for women to use technology in harnessing the socio- economic development of the state and the country as a whole.

Represented by Dr Hadiza Balarabe, deputy governor, at the launch of Arewa Ladies for Tech and the mural unveiling of the AI for Beginners Learning Video series, Sani, said AI is not just the future; it’s the present.

According to him, Google pledged a $1.5 million grant to empower 20,000 Nigerian women and youths from underserved communities with essential 21st-century skills. This includes a plan to train 5,000 women and girls in areas such as data science and artificial intelligence through the Arewa Tech4Ladies initiative.

Mr. Olumide Balogun, director of Google in West Africa, said in his welcome address that Google’s mission was to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Balogun said that this initiative was a commitment to enhance the representation and inclusion of women in the tech sector.

Dr Bayo Adekanmbi, chief executive officer of DNS, explained that by making AI education accessible in Hausa, the partnership was creating opportunities for innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.

Presenting a paper tagged, “AI in Education”, Dr Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said a lot had been missed because AI was not being taught in the local language.

The DG was represented by Dr. Ahmed Tambuwal, head of the Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department of NITDA.

Chowdeck, Nigeria’s on-demand delivery service, has secured $2.5 million in seed funding to optimize its operations and support expansion into more cities across the country.

The seed funding round included investment from YCombinator, Goodwater Capital, FounderX Ventures, Hoaq Fund, Levare Ventures, True Culture Funds and Haleakala Ventures. Simon Borrero and Juan Pablo Ortega (co-founders of Rappi – Latin America’s largest online delivery platform), Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi (co-founders of Paystack – one of Africa’s leading fintech companies. Acquired by Stripe for $200m), Sudeep Ramani (Sportybet), Ayo Arikawe (Thrive Agric) and Karthik Ramakrishnan (Amazon) also participated as angels.

Since launching in October 2021 after the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Chowdeck has acquired more than 500,000 users and more than 3,000 riders (typically earning the same as senior civil servants in Nigeria) that serve 8 Nigerian cities (Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Ilorin, Benin City, Abeokuta and Asaba).

This new funding will enable Chowdeck to double down on its market leadership in these cities and lay the groundwork for further expansion into other Nigerian cities.

Driven by a combination of increased smartphone and internet penetration, improved payment systems, evolving consumer preferences and a range of other factors, there has been a significant growth in on-demand delivery services in Nigeria in recent years.

For example, heavy traffic in major cities makes it challenging for people to shop for groceries, meals, or other goods, increasing the attractiveness of delivery services that can save time.

This growth trajectory is poised to continue as many of the challenges that hampered previous attempts at providing on-demand delivery services are fixed.

Chowdeck is the fastest delivery service operating out of Africa today, allowing consumers to buy food and have it delivered to their doorstep in 30 minutes, on average.

The startup has built an effective logistics operation that food vendors can leverage to seamlessly deliver meals to customers while also providing consumers with an easy platform to order meals from their favourite restaurants in their city.

The startup has also partnered with a wide range of leading quick-service restaurants such as Chicken Republic, Burger King, Bukka Hut and more to drive sales, provide logistics infrastructure and other services to enable enhanced customer experiences.

Femi Aluko, CEO and co-founder of Chowdeck, said, “We know that Nigerians love good food, and we just want to make it as easy as possible for them to access the food they desire.

Chowdeck was birthed to fulfil this purpose and we are committed to delivering truly excellent experiences for our customers, vendors and riders. We are pleased with the success we have achieved to date and excited to have raised these funds that will enable us to replicate that success in more parts of Nigeria, and add value to our customers, vendors, and riders in as many ways as we can.”

Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack said, “Chowdeck is not only addressing the crucial need for an efficient and reliable on-demand delivery service in Nigeria, the team embodies innovation and a commitment to excellence.

It is a privilege to be part of their journey and I look forward to celebrating more success with them in months and years to come.

Apart from investing financially into the company, our experience with building Paystack puts us in a great position to provide a lot of practical support and I am excited to see what it is to come from the Chowdeck team.”

June Angelides, Partner at Levare Ventures, said “Chowdeck has quickly become a household name across Nigeria, priding itself on very high standards of execution. They are addressing a large and complicated problem, especially in Africa, delivering goods at record speed.

I am excited that they have proven that the opportunity is there beyond restaurants and supermarkets. The team have secured landmark partnerships with Shoprite, Chicken Republic and KFC, a sign of their grit. Their customers love them, their riders love them. There’s so much more to come and I’m excited to be with them on the journey”.