Reading Time: 2 minutesWith cybersecurity breaches at an all-time high, and in observance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, KCoe’s IT consultants share this reminder of what makes safe passwords both strong and effective.
When choosing a password, try to incorporate as many of the below tips (courtesy of HoganTaylor) as you can for safety.
- Consider a Passphrase
Hackers use multiple methods to access your accounts, several are able to generate passwords based on information they can find online or through social engineering. The truth is the longer the password the better as it will take longer for their tools to generate the password. But to be sure, try using a passphrase. Within the passphrase, don’t use a common phrase, but rather random words that don’t make sense together and use spaces and special characters.
- Don’t Repeat Passwords
When you reuse your passwords, you put all of your accounts at risk. If your password is part of a data breach, hackers will attempt to reuse that password to access your other accounts. You can protect your accounts by making your passwords for each account are different.
- Utilize a Password Manager
It can be challenging to manage separate passwords for each of your accounts, and this is where password managers come in. These tools are very useful in keeping your passwords safe and secure. Some password managers also have family plans where you can give access to others in your family the accounts you need them to be able to access. One of my favorite features they offer is the ability to auto fill the username and passwords into systems that I want to access.
- Change Passwords Regularly
It is always best practice to change your passwords regularly and the longer and more complex the password, the longer it will be for a hacker to guess. A data breach could still put your account at risk so changing your password regularly with help to protect your accounts.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
The last layer of protection is to enable multi-factor authentication on all of your accounts that allow it. This layer of protection makes it harder for an attacker to access your account without having access to something such as your mobile phone or email account.
October is #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth
KCoe’s IT consultants enable businesses to #BeCyberSmart
We can help your company prevent, protect, deter, and educate against cybercrime: https://www.pinionglobal.com/services/it-consulting/
