Top 6 Tips to Keep Your Password Secure

Ensuring your online security should be on top of your digital ‘to-do list’. Needless to say every site we sign-up to has a list of best practices when it comes to creating new passwords. However, thousands of passwords get cracked every day and things are likely to stay the same way. In a social experiment one hacker managed to crack 90% of the passwords in less than an hour with the help of a computer cluster. Here are 6 password tips to increase your online security:

Have one password per account

There are many websites which require passwords, form social media to email and from online banking to online shops. The fastest way to keep them organized is to have one password for all the accounts and that`s where most people find out fast is not the way to go. If only one passwords gets broken all your accounts are exposed giving access to personal communication and finances. Even if you are sure you have a secure password your account could still be leaked or cracked due to administrator error.

Don`t change your password too often

Some webpages require users to change passwords every 2 ore 3 months. This would be a good measure if we didn`t have accounts on so many websites. Too many people find themselves in the situation where they`ve changed too many passwords too fast and they simply forget them.

Keep the password long

Major websites provide a tool to test your password security. You may think 6 characters are enough but the truth is technology is always evolving and the shorter the password the easier it is to crack. Making sure you use a mix of characters with letters, numbers and symbols is always advisable.

Avoid personal info

Avoiding personal information can`t be recommended enough. Coming up with something new will always be a better choice than choosing the street name, the name of the pet, birth dates or the current year as a password.

Choose a sentence instead

IT professionals tend to recommend various sentences for inspiration. So for instance ‘The cat we got is eight now’ can become tCWgien. You can further adjust it to tCWgi8n.

Don`t forget about password recovery options

You should always keep an eye on your account information and make sure your password recovery options are up to date. A valid email address should be in place should you need it in the case of a recovery.
If you have to answer a security question make sure the answer is not something common or publicly available on your social networks. Even if you cannot choose the security question it is still a good practice to be creative with the answer.
These are 6 of the most common tips to increase password security. They apply to individuals and companies as well. Make sure your staff is updated on the importance of secure passwords.

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