If you are making sure to lock your home and your car whenever you’re away, then you should do the same for your password. In this age where almost everything can be accessed digitally, your password falling into the wrong hands can mean letting thieves get access to your sensitive data that they can use to steal your identity, steal your money, steal your reputation, and a lot more. Your password unlocks so much about you and it is vulnerable to keyloggers, data breaches, phishing attacks, and other tricks used by hackers and you need more than two-factor authentication to secure your accounts.
Make Sure to Create A Strong Password
The first step to securing your accounts is to create a strong password. It is best to also make sure that you aren’t using that password anywhere else so that if one account is compromised, your other accounts won’t be affected. Now, to create a strong password, you need more than simply using special characters. Unguessable passwords are typically longer than 12 characters and have a mix of upper case and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. It should not contain names of your family members as well as pets to be harder to guess.
Remember Your Strong Passwords with A Password Manager
Strong passwords are difficult to remember if you have many accounts. Using a password manager can make life easier for you because not only does it remember your passwords for you, it can also autofill your passwords when possible. The best password managers come with a small subscription fee but they also give you the freedom as they manage your passwords on your phone and pc.
Now, if you’re not a fan of having a digital record of your passwords, keeping a list of them in a small notebook may come in handy. You can even buy a small notebook dedicated to keeping passwords.
Password Protect Your Devices
Password security won’t be complete without making sure that your gadgets or devices are secure. Even if you have two-factor authentication on, it won’t matter much if unauthorized people can simply use your registered gadgets to access your accounts. Instead of just locking your devices with your fingerprint or facial recognition, a passcode is a safer way of safeguarding the devices that got your login credentials stored. You can also automatically lock your device if it has been idle for 5 minutes or even less to be on the safe side.
Having a pin or passcode for your devices is another layer of protection if you live with people you do not fully trust or if there is anyone who might be interested to unlock your devices with your fingerprint or face while you are sleeping. If you feel that this is still not enough, turn on passcode-required access for some of your apps using an app locker or arming the built-in security for using some applications or programs on your devices.
Following the 3 tips in the password security guide above can save you from potential security issues down the road. If you are running a business or need protection like this for your company, do not hesitate to contact us at Haywood Hunt & Associates so we can discuss more ways to implement password security for you or avail of our security consulting services.
