Amazingly, people still get caught using terrible passwords on their online accounts. This might seem like a small risk to take, but hackers are getting smarter about guessing user’s credentials. Passwords like “PASSWORD” “123456” and others are commonly used but easily guessed even by amature cyber criminals. It’s important to use high-quality passwords that don’t put you or your company at risk of cyber-crime. Here are the basic rules you should be following to create a password that gives hackers a run for their money.
Avoid Simple Passwords
Although the requirements for most accounts are rarely more than 6 characters, the longer your password is the more difficult it is to compromise. Security experts at McAfee say to avoid using personal information including your name, age, birth date, children’s names, pet’s names, even favorite color or song. Any password that makes sense can be guessed by a savvy hacker with a little insider information (such as what is often readily available on social media).
Easy to Remember but Hard to Guess
The best passwords are easy to remember but hard to guess. Use a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols to create a meaningful password like “Iam:)2day!”. It has 10 characters and says “I am happy today!” Another option is to create shapes on the keyboard to make a new password. For example, the password “5tgbHU*” follows a V pattern on the keyboard. Again, it is an easily remembered option that hackers will have difficulty guessing.
Check Your Password Strength
There are many ways you can check the strength of your password to see how it stacks up comparatively. Many security programs and websites offer a password strength analyzer in the sign-up section. Pay attention to the advice of the program and you will be helping to make your password choice stronger and your information more secure. Sometimes an external perspective helps identify vulnerabilities that we may otherwise be blind to. A quick review can do a lot of good.
Don’t Use the Same Password for Multiple Accounts
While this is another common practice, users who have the same password across multiple accounts are making their information that much easier to access. Victims of a recent LinkedIn hack recently saw the damage this can cause as their corporate accounts for DropBox were then hacked using the same information stolen from LinkedIn. Reusing passwords for email, banking, corporate, and social media accounts can lead to identity theft, corporate espionage, and other potentially devastating occurrences.
For more expert advice on making your information more digitally secure, call to speak with a records management specialist today. The team at Happy Faces offers the latest options for digital file security and hard copy records management.
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