Are You Using Secure Passwords?
Password protection, is something that should be on our minds. People are using the internet for both personal and work, without make secure passwords for those accounts. That leaves many people open for internet hackers to steal their data and files.
Here are some tips for to strengthen your passwords:
Tips For Creating Passwords:
1.) Use numbers, symbols, and UPPER and lower case letters.
If your password is cindylouwho, you can make that into a stronger password. A few changes can help like changing the l to a one and changing the o’s to zeros. Also adding a number and capitalize the C. Your new stronger password could look like, Cindy10uwh0793.
2.) Don’t use passwords that use:
-Password or user
-Username for the site
-Date of birth
-Social security number
-Work or personal phone number
-Pet names past or present
3.) Don’t use any of the passwords in number two, but switch that information to a family member or friends information.
4.) Make password groups.
Password groups can make it easier to remember your password. While preventing hackers from getting access to all of your accounts at once. For example all your work accounts could be book tiles by Dr. Suess, and all of your social media accounts names of plants found in pop culture. Your work email password could be GreenEggs&hAm092. The password for your Facebook could be truffulaTree4572.
5.) Use a passphrase
Use a phrase or a quote instead of a single word. Max alone wouldn’t be a great password. MaxhelpedThegrinchstealxmas! would be a stronger more secure password.
6.) Don’t use the same password for sites.
If you use the same password or passwords for all of your secure accounts it makes it easier to hack and steal important data and files. If a hacker knows your email account’s password is, whoshearhorton!1945, and you also had that same password for your bank account they can easily get into that account.
Example Passwords Had a Theme?
If you noticed a theme throughout this post you would be correct. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss Day. For Dr. Seuss Day all our password examples are references to Dr. Suess’s work. Here’s a couple fun facts about the password example references.
- The final password for number 1 was Cindy10uwh0793. The 793 stands for July 1993, that’s the year Taylor Momsen was born. She would go on to play Cindy Lo Who in the live action movie of The Grinch.
- In number 4 the password example for the social media account group was names of plants found in pop culture. Truffula Tree is the tree from “The Lorax”. The number 45 is how many pages are in the book. 72 stands for the year “The Lorax” was published.
- In Number 5, the name Max is the dog’s name in “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”.
- whoshearhorton!1945 is the password example in number six. “Horton Hears A Who” was published in 1945.
Hackers have many tools at their disposal, to figure out both your work and personal passwords. You never know if a hacker might crack your passwords and get access to your files and data. Even if you do have extremely secure passwords it doesn’t hurt to protect your data and files in other ways. Netsonic can help your recover your data and files if a hacker, natural disaster or other disasters hit your business, with our Disaster Recovery & Back Up Solutions.
