What You Need To Know About Your Passwords
In today’s technology-laden world, we are increasingly dependent on a web of passwords, pins and security codes. We have credit card pins, email passwords, online banking passwords, computer passwords, network passwords, Dropbox or Microsoft Office 365 passwords, not to mention passwords for popular sites like Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter.
The problem is: how do you remember so many passwords?
A lot of people use the same password for everything. But if a malicious person gets his hands on that password, your entire life is up for grabs. He can empty your bank accounts, shop online, and even defraud your friends. It’s not pretty!
So how do you solve this quandary? How do you keep your personal information safe and still remember all of your passwords? Here are 5 simple suggestions for doing that:
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Don’t use the same password for everything. At a bare minimum, use one password for low-security sites like Twitter, and another for things like online banking. Ideally, you should have more than 2 passwords, but this approach is still better than the alternative.
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Don’t choose simple or obvious passwords. Your child’s name, for example, is a poor choice. And if you do use a familiar name, make sure to add capital letters and numbers to keep it safe. For example, instead of “michael”, you might use “M1chael32".
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Do change your passwords periodically. It’s no guarantee, but the more you change your passwords, the less vulnerable you are to a security breach.
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Do delete logins for users who are no longer employed there. If there’s any chance that those employees know other passwords, you must force a password change for all users.
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Do use a password manager. It shocks us when we ask a customer for the passwords for their router or server and they don’t have the password or they’ve forgotten it.
There are sophisticated password managers for consumers and businesses and many are free or very inexpensive. You just need to remember a single master password. Your other passwords are then saved in a secure, encrypted format.
Every business should have a master password list, stored in a secure location. If you’re letting someone else keep the keys to your kingdom, or - worse still - forgotten your key passwords, you may be putting your business at risk by leaving it open to outside attacks.
And one final word: just because you have the passwords for your server or router, it doesn’t mean that you should use them. Changing key settings on your server or router without knowing exactly what you’re doing can have disastrous effects.
If you need assistance cleaning up your passwords, just give your friendly Connectability rep a call, and we’ll work with you to make sure that all of your information is safe and secure.
