All the passwords used in accessing any computing system or account must be strong. A lot of recommendations have been given to help develop unique passwords. However, it is sad to hear and read stories about cyber-attacks that resulted from the use of weak passwords. See, a strong password should be hard for machines and humans to guess.
Some of the recommendations for developing strong passwords are:
- The password must be eight characters and above, the higher the number of characters, the stronger the password will be
- It would help if you combined both lowercase and uppercase letters.
- It would help if you used numerals and letters.
- Special characters should be utilized, such as: @£%~ But the use of ‘or’ is not recommended since it can cause problems.
Remember, a strong password is hard to guess. However, it must be easy to recall. Thus, you should make sure the above recommendations are incorporated in your password. However, various systems will have guidelines or say limits on the number of characters, symbols, or even letters to be used. Just make sure you adhere to the given restrictions since this would improve the strength of your password. You can check how secure is your password here.
Examples of weak passwords
- A word that can be found in the dictionary, no matter the language such as mason
- A series of characters such as 56789 or DDDD.
- Passwords that include personal info such as birth date, home address, kids name, pets name etc.
- Any piece of info written on a paper and stored near your devices
How to keep your password secure?
- The password you develop must be strong. Adhere to all the guidelines shared above on developing unique passwords.
- It must be changed regularly, say in every 3 to 6 months, you can change it once
- If you suspect something is not right with your account, it is good to change the password straight away.
- Each of your accounts must have strong passwords. Do not reuse passwords for all your accounts.
- Do not save the password when using public computers such as in a cybercafé. Also, do not save it in devices used by more than one person even if it is yours.
- Please do not write it somewhere.
- Also, never tell your password to anyone
- Lastly, make use of a password manager
How can a password manager help you?
Password managers are meant to develop strong passwords and remember them for you. They can be used with any browsers. However, they come in two types. There are inbuilt password managers. These coke with the browser. They help store the passwords for you. Some will even suggest strong passwords that you can use.
Then, there are standalone password managers. These can be downloaded from the web and can be used with various browsers. There are many vendors for this type. Thus, it would be best if you were keen when making your purchase. However, there are still free versions which you can use without paying anything.
Conclusion
As from now, you will start using strong passwords. The importance of using such unique passwords are many, and you will enjoy great peace of mind since you will rest assured all your accounts are secure. If you like it, you can use a password manager to develop and store the passwords for you.