Police in Devon and Cornwall have joined a national campaign to encourage people to ‘think random’ when setting up electronic passwords.

The latest government statistics from Ipsos MORI show that only 35% of people in the South West are following Government advice to use strong passwords made up of three random words.

According to the National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ, it’s one the most important actions people can take to protect themselves from cybercrime.

According to Office of National Statistics figures an estimated two million cybercrime offences were committed last year.

The Government’s cyber security campaign, Cyber Aware, is urging people and businesses in Devon and Cornwall to #ThinkRandom when it comes to creating strong passwords.

Detective Sergeant Alex Dawson, from Devon and Cornwall Police’s Digital Crime Unit, said: ‘The easiest way to create a strong, memorable password is to use three random words.  

‘Traditional thinking was that a really strong password was long with lots of symbols, numbers and capital letters.  

‘These are quite secure passwords but they’re hard to remember and people tend to choose weak passwords instead or compromise them by writing them down.’

To find out more visit cyberaware.gov.uk/passwords