We use passwords every day for just about everything. Our social media, our bank accounts, our company websites, the software we use for our jobs, our shopping accounts, and so on and so on. The whole purpose of passwords, of course, is to keep other people out of our accounts. However, in order to successfully do this, we must have passwords that others are not quickly going to guess. How do we do this? Well, there are multiple ways.
- Use combinations of 3 or more words that normally would not go together. For example, your password might be paperpinktree. You might be surprised that this password will take a lot longer to guess than P@p3r!932 would.
- Adding capital letters, numbers and symbols into your string of words will make your password even more complicated.
- Avoid substituting numbers or symbols in place of letters. Using P@ssw0rd instead of password does not make it much more difficult to guess.
- Use a different password for every site or application you log into. Using the same password for multiple sites makes it easier for hackers to break into your accounts.
Once you know how to create a complicated password, the idea of changing all of your passwords may be daunting. Having an easy-to-remember password that you use across all platforms is very easy to handle - which is why hackers are counting on you doing this. Writing your passwords on sticky notes or storing them in your browser may be tempting, but this is not ideal. First, anyone who obtains access to your computer would then be able to log into your accounts. Furthermore, web browsers are not highly secure which means that many of the applications and websites that you visit can strip your passwords from the browser.
Instead, we recommend using a password manager. These applications store all of your usernames and passwords, allowing you to quickly log into all of your applications. Best of all, you go right back to only having to memorize one password even though all of your applications will have different passwords!
Did you know that all of PrydeTech's managed plans come with password managers for every employee in your company? To learn more about password best practices, password managers, or PrydeTech's managed plans, call us at (817) 693-1042, or email us at info@prydetech.com. We look forward to talking to you!
