4 Tips to Keep Your Password Safe

Passwords. The necessary evil.

We all know the password rules: don’t use important dates (like your birthday), your name, or “passw0rd” to secure your accounts. We all know each account should have a different, unique password. But we live our lives online – logging into social media, ride-sharing, and online banking accounts on a frequent, if not daily, basis. With so many active accounts and so many things to consider, how on Earth are we supposed to remember all of our passwords, let alone keep them all secure? To keep our accounts secure, we may look for blogs on scam prevention tips written by a knowledgeable person such as an entrepreneur, as for the passwords, we may have to employ some tactics.

Recent attacks on user databases reveal that our passwords might not be as secure as we originally thought. The Wall Street Journal reported that the 2010 cyberattack on Gawker media and later leak of user profiles revealed the top passwords to be “123456,” “password,” and “12345678.” In a day of daily cyberattacks and hacks, making sure your passwords are strong and secure is a top priority. As well as passwords, it’s also super-important that your devices are as safe and secure as possible, potentially with the help of something like a vpn chrome extension, so that your details and data will not fall into the wrong hands.

Here are a few tips to make sure your passwords are smart, strong and secure:

Be smart

• Make it memorable. Use a favorite song lyric, character, place or memory as a starting point
• Keep it safe. Do not write it on a Post-It note lying on your desk. If you feel like you must write it down, keep it locked in a secure location or with you at all times.
• Don’t use the same password for multiple accounts. If hackers unlock one password, they can access all your accounts.
• Don’t share your passwords. Ever!

Make it strong

• Shake up your password with different letters, numbers and symbols. Capitalize a ranDom letter, substitute a “@” for an “A,” or a “7” for an “L.”
• Make it longer. Many of our accounts require passwords to range of six to eight characters, but upping the count to ten or twelve will increase your security.
• Deliberately misspell. For example, instead of using the ever popular “passw0rd,” try “psaswr0d.”

Use a password manager

Keeping track of all your strong, memorable passwords can be a pain. Using a password manager will solve all those problems, keeping them locked safely away in one place.

I’m a big fan of LastPass and 1Password.

Add authentication

Many online accounts already offer two or multi-factor authentications, including private and public key authentication (for more information, you can try this out). The security measures work by combining two or more personal identity verifications to protect an account. If a hacker uses one to try to gain access but doesn’t have the other verification, they are locked out. This extra layer of security helps keep your passwords safe and your online identity safe.

You can also make your company’s security system foolproof by incorporating cyber security measures and an alarm management system that can track any breach in business accounts and other work-related profiles. You can also track who gets access to particular files or data and eliminate the chance of data theft with the help of a security system. Then strong passwords can work as a secondary barrier and additional protection to sensitive data.

Keeping up with password security measures can be tricky and sometimes just annoying. Staying safe online, especially in our fast-moving technological world, doesn’t need to be difficult. We hope these tips helped! And for more cyber safety advice and insights, follow us on Twitter.