Tag: password

Posted on

World Password Day

May the 4th has been coined World Password Day to create awareness among workers and home users everywhere to establish safe, secure and updated passwords. If you are using a common password, the same password for all your devices, or a password that is more than 2 years old then let us encourage you to participate in #passwordday and up your cyber security game.

Tips for creating a strong password-
Your passwords should be lengthy, because that is what makes them stronger. At least 8 characters long and difficult for someone to guess. Don’t use personal information like your children names or your birthday because that information is public knowledge and can probably be found out via social media or some other form of internet records. Use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. This may seem daunting but there is nothing more daunting then having all your personal data stolen.

Make sure you use different passwords for each account-
If you recycle and reuse a password for each of your different accounts online such as your banking, email, Facebook, & other bills then you are making it too easy for a hacker to have access to everything. It would be like if you only had one key that accessed your car, your house, & your safety deposit box. If you lost that key and someone found it then nothing in your life would be safe. Hackers know people like to keep the same password for each account and they will use this against you. If the task of creating a new password for each account seems too hard then keep reading.

Get a password manager-
A password manager stores all of your passwords, remembers them & can generate new strong passwords for you all very securely. This way you can have the longest, strongest passwords (each different) for your accounts and you only need one password to access those. These apps have secured your passwords by only allowing you access on one registered device, by using fingerprint technology or by facial recognition. Click here for a great list of possible password managers to download- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407168,00.asp

If you have any other questions about creating or updating your password call us at 806-350-TECH. Happy World Password Day!

Posted on

How To Secure Your Digital Life Through Password Protection

It is happening more and more these days. People get their accounts emptied and their identities stolen. Whether it be on facebook, google+, online banking, or ebay, people are going to try to steal from you. There are some things you can do to protect yourselfs..

Here are some simple ways to protect yourself from online thieves and hacker

First: Make sure that you use a secure password. I know this goes without saying, but you’d be surprised how many people use the ol’ wife’s birthday or lastname123. The online atmosphere is changing and if you want to be safe, you need to make sure that you be pro-active in your action. Some things you can do to make your password more secure would be to add upper and lower case lettering. Also, adding numbers and punctuation will really beef up the security of your password.

Example of weak password: lastname123

Here’s how to beef up that same password: lAstnamE#123! – Still quite easy to remember, yet will protect much better from online predators looking to hack into an account.

Second: When creating an account on a site and it asks you for a security question (Which is what will be used if you lose your password and need to retrieve it), always use the ‘other’ option (if it is offered). Rather than using the standard questions that it asks you, which can be easily attained if someone spends enough time, fill out your own custom and personalized question and answer. This ensures that a hacker won’t have predetermined avenues to look down to find your information. This is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself and also one of the easiest ways for someone to gain access to your account.

Below is a list of the most used passwords that you never want to use:

1. password (Unchanged)
2, 123456 (Unchanged)
3. 12345678 (Unchanged)
4. abc123 (Up 1)
5. qwerty (Down 1)
6. monkey (Unchanged)
7. letmein (Up 1)
8. dragon (Up 2)
9. 111111 (Up 3)
10. baseball (Up 1)
11. iloveyou (Up 2)
12. trustno1 (Down 3)
13. 1234567 (Down 6)
14. sunshine (Up 1)
15. master (Down 1)
16. 123123 (Up 4)
17. welcome (New)
18. shadow (Up 1)
19. ashley (Down 3)
20. football (Up 5)
21. jesus (New)
22. michael (Up 2)
23. ninja (New)
24. mustang (New)
25. password1 (New)