CyberSecurity Awareness Month – Passwords review
Just like you need a unique key for lock to your house, you should also have a unique password for all your online accounts. Don’t reuse the same password across websites. In the same way if a thief gets hold of that one key, they can open all the locks in your house, if one of those sites gets compromised, hackers will also try that password on other sites. No matter the account, all passwords should be created with these three words in mind:
- Long — At least 12 characters
- Unique — Never reuse passwords. Each account needs its own unique password
- Complex — Use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. Some websites will even let you include spaces.
Now many of you are saying that “I can’t remember so many strong passwords!!!” Well if you haven’t already, install a password manager — never write passwords down.
A password manager is a secure vault for all your passwords — like a glorified password notebook but a lot more secure! You only have to remember one password, allowing you and your computer to access the rest of your passwords for all your logins. This also means you can (and should!) create different passwords for each account, keeping you ahead of any hackers!
- Saves you time
- Works across all your devices and operating systems
- Protects your identity
- Notify you of potential phishing websites
Some recommended password manages are:
What about using my web browser to manage my passwords?
The core problem with storing passwords in browsers is that they sacrifice security for usability. This holds true for at least the three most popular browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, all of which store user passwords in a highly insecure way
Consider using a PassPhrase
Passphrases are great because they are easy to remember and hard for hackers to guess or crack. This is because they tend to be longer and more complex than traditional passwords.
Three examples of a passphrase could be:
- m0viesPopcornTreat!
- M@yTHEforceb3withYou
- !Lov3PeanutButt3r
