Am I safe online?
Passwords, are they important, how to create them, and why?
With every account you create online or a website registration, you are requested to choose a username and a password. While, username is easy to find and, in most cases, it would just be your email address. When it comes to the choice of a password, here comes the challenge. Most of us fall in the same trap, which they end up using “One Password Fits All”, not realising they are creating a security breach. Passwords are like your home and rooms inside door key, just imagine all the doors open with the same key including your safe!? So, if someone was able to grab the one keys you use, he will be able to get access to the whole house or building. Consequently, passwords are important, and needs thinking twice before choosing them. Rule number One, always choose different one for each account you create.
Now we come to the choice of the password itself, is it safe to use something easy I can remember? such as important dates in my life, like my birthday? Partner or children names? Combination of consecutive numbers? …, etc. Rule number Two, No you can NOT. Here is a list of the most common used passwords in 2019, that you must NOT use in 2020; 123456, 212345679, qwerty, 12345678, 111111, 1234567890, 1234567, password, 123123, 987654321, qwertyuiop, mynoob, 123321, 666666, 18atcskd2w
Okay, so what is the recipe for a secure password? Rule number Three, it needs to be at least 8 or more random alphanumerical characters, and has upper and lowercase, i.e.: R*8m8Lz3 or a bit longer -m$X/6uB{V=.9az7. Also, remember that the longer the password, the stronger it is. Hard to think about one, you can just use some random characters of your keyboard or ask Google “online password generator” to create some awesome strong passwords for you. Just try to remember them or save them in a safe place (PS: don’t right your password in a notepad or save them as a plain text document titled password on your machine).
Today’s quickie: Using a password generator software, will create good and strong password, but you need to save them in a safe place. Here is a list of the top three; Zoho, Dashlane, and LastPass. By using any of them, you can securely save your password and share it between devices.
For any further questions related to the article above or IT maintenance services in general, please email :info@swifttech.com.au or visit our website https://swifttech.com.au
Until next month, Go Swift Tech!