According to statistics, 81% of breaches are due to stolen or weak passwords.
What structure of password is hard to crack?
- 15-19 units ( the longer the better)
- Letters ( Mix upper and lower case)
- Numbers ( Not sequential)
- Symbols ( ! , # % & */…..)
- Make phrases that don’t make sense
Ex: sTrawberries26$0Fly!
This password would take 817 years to crack
To test if your password is strong you can try this link :https://www.passwordmonster.com/ ( It would be better to not use this test password)
Where to store your passwords?
You may be tempted to have a list of all your passwords in your email, on your laptop or on you phone. But it’s the jackpot for any hackers! They wish to put their hands on this list!
There are different software programs that can help you manage all of your passwords. Others prefer to be old school and write them down on a paper which is a good idea too. Just make sure it is far from your laptop/phone/tablet cameras!
Change your passwords
It is source of frustration for many of us to have so many passwords and accounts. It feels endless. But with all the hacking activity happening today we don’t really have a choice… Hackers work now with algorithms and robots to generate thousands of password combinations in matters of minutes. If your password is weak there are big chances you will be scammed.
Changing your passwords every 3 months is a good option, especially for bank accounts and email personal accounts that have bank related information ( Bills, logins…)
Being organized is the key. Making funny phrases that make absolutely no sense is a good option too! Give headaches to hackers and you wont have one 🙂
