The Best Guide on Your Account Security

Finally, you decided to pull the trigger and upgrade to the 65' you've been dreaming about. You go to your computer to order it, only for some reason you can't log in. You try again, but still no luck. Just for fun, you try to log into a different account - and you have the same problem.

Sorry to ruin your day, but you've become yet another victim of a computer hack. Your password was stolen, and the cyberthief has changed your passwords, ordered a lot of merchandise, and left you with the charges. While you won't have to actually pay for the merchandise that was stolen, you do need to focus on your account security. And good security starts with strong passwords.

Picture 1 of The Best Guide on Your Account Security

Passwords are the Key to Account Security

The fact that your password was hacked shouldn't surprise you. According to the National Security Agency (NSA), there are 300 million password hacking attempts each day. You read that number correctly - 300 million hacking attempts each and every day. Out of those numbers, cybercrooks are going to be successful at least part of the time. It's a matter of sheer numbers. The other reason is that only 27.7% of the people use a secure password manager, while 38% still write their passwords down on a piece of paper, often carried in a purse or wallet.

That's why so many passwords are hacked, and a hacked password is the gateway to identity theft. Once a cybercrook has your password, all of your personal and financial information will be stolen, and used to drain your bank accounts, steal your medical identity, commit tax fraud and so much more. In fact, whatever you store on your computer and other devices now belongs to the cybercrook.

Here's something else that'll prompt you to start generating and using strong passwords: 81% of data breaches are due to weak or stolen passwords. That's an incredible statistic - because a data breach can result in millions of dollars in damages to a company or organization, not to mention the ongoing damage it can do to the victims whose data was exposed.

It All Starts with A Strong Password

Ok, but what is a 'strong password'? According to computer and IT experts, a strong password is one that is at least 12 characters in length, and has letters, numbers and symbols, along with case-sensitive characters. Yet, there are still people who are using passwords like 'secret, 123456, abcdefg and Nothing'. If they think those passwords are strong and secure, well, they need to think again.

Another common mistake most people make is that they use the same password on every one of their accounts. After all, it's hard to remember which password goes with what account. And if you have to create a password with at least 12 characters and include numbers and symbols, it would make your head spin!

Forget the advice about changing your password every month or every few months. The expert advice now is to create a strong password and continue to use it indefinitely. Here's why - if you're constantly changing your password, you may go back to weak passwords just to get it done. The FTC now recommends changing your password only if you have a reason to believe it has been compromised in some way.

Here's another mistake many people make - and that is allowing your browser to save your passwords and automatically log you into various sites you use. There's no question that it provides a huge level of convenience, but in terms of safety, well, forget it. All the major browsers like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari have this option, but it's highly recommended that you never store your passwords on your browser.

A Closer Look at Passwords

Ok, a strong password is 12 characters long. That's 'at least' 12 characters long, and should include numbers and special characters as well. Avoid using common patterns or dates, and also avoid any personal identifiers in your password like username or similar types of information.

Write down your passwords, because it'll make you realize whether or not a password is strong. Just be sure that you store them in a safe place, and never on your desktop or in a computer file labeled 'passwords'. For added peace of mind and the ultimate in cybersecurity, use a password manager.

Password managers not only generate strong passwords, they manage them as well. Once you use a password manager, you'll never go back to creating your own passwords. These managers are programs that store all of your passwords in one convenient, secure place. It requires one master password to access it, and it will securely enter your password for each account that you've assigned it to. Most importantly, a password manager will do the heavy lifting - by generating a strong and unique password for every one of your accounts.

There are many password managers to choose from, including LastPass, Dashlane, Enpass and 1password, among many others. By following the recommendations listed above, you'll have strong passwords protecting your most sensitive data.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 03 April 2021