Good password security is vital to avoid someone with malicious intent gaining access to your or your work’s private data. Although awareness of the need to choose complex passwords is relatively high, many people still forget the importance of it. Many are still using short passwords based on their nickname, their first cat or their date of birth.
It does not matter if you are planning a weekend at home, binge-watching season 4 of Stranger Things, or if you are spending the days in the office all summer; a strong password is super important to avoid any unauthorized intrusion. Why and how you go about coming up with strong passwords is discussed here.
Small intrusions can cause devastating consequences
When a hacker with criminal intent has obtained personal data, he or she can easily use it to gain access to your other accounts. What follows is everything from online goods being ordered in your name or the hacker contacting your friends and family on social media and scamming them for money.
If a hacker accesses sensitive data in a company, the consequences can be even more devastating. In addition to the risk of grand losses, it damages the company’s reputation. A company that has been hacked and whose customers have found out is unlikely to be the same again.
Use a password manager
As most people have multiple accounts with separate passwords today, help is needed to ensure that you have a unique and complex password for all your online services. A password manager program will suggest long and secure passwords, store them securely in an encrypted vault, and help you remember the passwords when it is time to use them.
As the demand for these smart tools increases, there are now a number of different password managers to choose from. Ensure that you choose the best one with the help of this review from passwordhero.
Choose long passwords with different kinds of characters
If you do not want to use a password manager, the most important thing when creating passwords is to use many different characters. Using lower and upper case letters, numbers and special characters adds complexity to passwords and makes them difficult to crack.
The basic recommendation is that passwords should be at least twelve characters long, but they can be even longer. Adding special characters further increases security.
Just remember that if you do not store your long and complex passwords in a password manager, you need to make sure you remember them!
Do not settle for strong passwords – use two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an extra requirement on top of your password to prove your identity. Two-factor authentication requires some information only you know and one device only you have access to.
Usually the way two-factor authentication works is that once you have entered the correct password, a verification code is sent to you via text message or through an app. After entering the correct code, you have access to whatever the two-factor authentication was required for.
Caroline is doing her graduation in IT from the University of South California but keens to work as a freelance blogger. She loves to write on the latest information about IoT, technology, and business. She has innovative ideas and shares her experience with her readers.
