Tuesday, March 10, 2015

P@ssw0rds and You!



Passwords are everywhere! We live in a world ruled by passwords. We have a password or PIN for everything from our bank accounts, email to Facebook. With so much important and private information at stake, how can we ensure our passwords are secure and at the same time usable? The answer is not as difficult as you may think.

  • Passwords should be easy to remember, but difficult to guess! Avoid using family names, pet names and single words as a password. Try mixing in numbers, uppercase letters and symbols to create easy to remember passwords such as: "1@wesomeP@ssw0rd". Notice how I substituted "1" in place of the word "One", "@" for "A" and used a "Zero" instead of an "O". This makes an easy to remember password, that is at the same time hard to guess. You are limited only by your own creativity in how you apply this technique. 
  • Don't use the same password for multiple sites! Seriously, don't do this! If one password gets compromised, all of your accounts are now potentially accessible by the bad guys. They will then use that info to access popular sites like Gmail and Amazon. Use a different password for each account!
  • Change passwords regularly. Passwords should be changed at least twice a year, preferably once a quarter. Is it inconvenient, yes. Is your bank account worth protecting? Of course it is.
It's easy to forget that there are bad guys out there actively looking for user accounts to pounce on. You can make it harder for them by using strong passwords and changing your passwords often. Your data, your privacy and your financial security may depend on it.

-> Test your current password here: https://howsecureismypassword.net/

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