New research from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge shows that hackers stand a 1 in 80 chance of guessing the answers to security questions such as your pet’s name.

The researchers looked mainly at first and last name pairs – 270 million in total – and found that by a combination of online research, friends on Facebook and pure guesswork, answering a password reset question was ridiculously easy. The best example of this was 2008’s hacking of presidential candidate Sarah Palin where public information was used to hack into her accounts. So when you choose a password reset question online, remember to make it less than obvious!