I have already blogged on Ernst & Young's brain fade when they lost a lap top containing confidential information of its customers including Sun Microsystems, Cisco, IBM and BP.

Ernst & Young at the time had tried to reassure everyone by telling them the information was password protected.

Great, that would have been about as reassuring as a dentist with an instruction manual!!! At the time I said any hacker with half a brain would need a few minutes to crack that one.

Now a report in London-based IT journal, The Register shows us how easy that would be.

According to penetration testing firm SecureTest, all you need is DIY hardware or software available from eBay.

Most people will have password protection when they get into the system. Using a Linux tool called Backtrack, which can run from a CD loaded onto a Windows PC, hackers can break into the system.

But there is some protection. According to the report, all you have to do is use the pound symbol. "Most of the hacker tools in this area are American so the inclusion of a pound sign in passwords is capable of frustrating attacks.''

So it all comes down to the power of the pound.

Can't find the pound sign? Here's a trick: in Word, press and hold the Alt key while you type 0163 on the numeric keypad at the right of the keyboard - not the numbers above the letters - and when you release the Alt key you will have a £ sign inserted wherever the cursor is at.