Keeping financial information, passwords, and other personal information safe from intruders has long been a priority of businesses. It’s increasingly critical for consumers and individuals to heed data protection recommendations and apply sound practices to keep your sensitive personal information safe. IT security experts recommend securing your passwords to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access.
Many of us still ignore the advice of adhering to the basics of password security. It is highly recommended to use a strong password and avoid using the same password on different sites. But apparently, password security advice seems too complicated for many of us to follow. One thing we must understand about securing our passwords is that they are as important as other applications we use to verify our identities like passports, social security cards, and driver’s licenses.
IT Security: Basic Tips in Securing Your Passwords
- Password Length – The recommended password length is at least 12-15 characters long. It can contain letters, numbers, and symbols. This may sound a lot but the important part is the length. Create a password by using a short sentence that’s easy for you to remember.
- Use Different Passwords for Different Accounts – If you use the same password for accounts that contain sensitive or personally identifying information, once it’s been cracked, all your accounts become vulnerable.
- Use Password Managers – Many of us just choose to use the same password over and over again because it’s just too hard to remember all of them. Luckily, password managers can help! These tools can also create passwords that are incredibly hard to crack.
- Use Two-Factor or Multi-Factor Authentication – This may sound pretty easy but aside from entering your password to log in to your account, you will also need to enter a second piece of information. Some emerging technologies employ a retina scan, a facial recognition scan, a thumbprint scan, etc.
- Don’t Share Your Password With Anyone – Sometimes, we want to share everything with our partners especially in new relationships. But surely, you wouldn’t want them to carry your identity documents around in their wallet. This also applies to your passwords. It’s important to keep your passwords private and not share them with anyone.
- Don’t Let Browsers Remember Your Passwords – While this awesome feature in many browsers may make it super easy for us to access our accounts, it also makes it easy for someone using the same device or computer to access those accounts.
- Remember to Log Off – Your account may remain open indefinitely on computers and devices unless you actively log out. Getting into the habit of logging out on your devices makes it less likely for you to accidentally stay logged in to your accounts on devices that aren’t yours.
Why Strong Passwords Is Crucial
Unauthorized access to computers and mobile devices is a potentially major problem for anyone. The consequences of these unauthorized break-ins for victims can include the loss of valuable data such as music, emails, and presentations. Victims may also have their identity, bank account information or even their money stolen. Unauthorized users may also put the victim in legal trouble by using their computer or mobile devices to break the law.
Commonly used passwords enable hackers and intruders to easily gain access to a computing device. Hackers break into computers by guessing passwords. A password that is difficult to guess makes it difficult for common hackers to break into a computer or mobile device. To lessen your likelihood of being the victim of an unwanted intrusion, use a more difficult password.
Recommendations
If you find it difficult to remember all your passwords, consider using a password manager to secure all your passwords. Another technique that you can use is to build a strong, unique password that incorporates something about the website.
Security measures such as passwords are crucial when it comes to preventing unauthorized logins to one’s mobile device or computer. Cybercriminals and hackers are continuously finding new ways to gain access to these devices.
If you are looking for Cybersecurity Standards that can help you upgrade the security of your organization, make sure to read this topic too: IT Security Standards.