Sick of setting new passwords for everything that you use? It’s probably the same or a slight variation, isn’t it? The uppercase letter first ending in a number or symbol. It’s how you’ve been taught to make it complex, but is it really?
Test out how long it’ll take to brute force your password at https://howsecureismypassword.net. If it’s giving you a number that isn’t inspiring confidence then read on and use these tips to make it more secure.
Use a passphrase instead of a password. This is done by joining multiple (3+) words together to form a password. Include upper and lower case letters as well as symbols and numbers.
Aim to have at least 12 characters or more in your password. The longer it is the longer it will take to be cracked by brute force methods.
As mentioned in point 1, make sure to have complexity in your password by including upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. This makes it harder to crack as there are more characters to guess in the end.
With those tips, you’ll have a password that will be easy to remember and be hard to guess and crack. An example of creating a pass phrase would be: selecting 4 words: lion + green + rice + kick, adding in upper case letters: lionGreenRicekick, add in numbers and symbols: li0nGreenRice!kick. Put that into the HowSecureIsMyPassword site and evaluate (our one would take 7 Quadrillion years!)
These tips will help you create a better password but it can’t fix common sense. Here are a few don’t to keeping your password safe and secure:
Don’t use any personal identifying information in your passwords such as names of children, pets, date of birth, anniversaries, etc. If it’s viewable on social media or publicly, don’t use it!
Don’t write your password down on a post-it note, and please don’t stick it on your monitor or under your keyboard. Just don’t do it.
Try to avoid having a capital as the first character or last, and same goes for numbers and symbols. Mix them in somewhere in between.
Here are some additional tips to help with your passwords.
Enable 2/multi factor authentication on your account. This will add another layer of security to your account and protect your account from unauthorised access if your password is compromised.
Use a password manager to help you keep your passwords secure. They are great tools as they can help you generate a seemingly random and complex password, store it away for future use, and you don’t even have to know what it was! There are many password managers out there and they all do a great job, but we are familiar with LastPass and recommend it if you’d like to try one out.
With these tips in hand, you’ll be on your way to better password practices, security and hassle-free password management! Say no to jotting them down in books and losing them when you most need it.
If you’d like to talk to us more about better security practices or have any other IT queries, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or via our contact page.
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