With the pandemic still affecting our day to day business, the number of internet users is still staying consistently high. COVID-19 pushed Internet use up to 70% and streaming uses up 12%, according to Forbes online. It’s safe to say that as users continue to navigate virtually means the increase of viable targets for any cybercriminals.
We’re calling out all users whose password is your birthday, address, mother’s maiden name, ‘123456’, and anything easy to guess has long passed. Here are some of the best practices to create strong passwords and to secure your information.
Complicated Password? Good for you!
Besides avoiding the passwords listed above, there are many other things that can help you keep your information safe; don’t use a single case, but rather a good mix of upper and lower cases, which can drastically strengthen your passwords.
Make them long. If your passwords are six characters or less, it’s time to extend your horizons. The longer and more complex you make your passwords, the more difficult it will be for hackers to ever crack them. Research shows that the longer the number of characters, it will lead to a drastic increase in time and effort a cybercriminal will need to crack your password.
Finally, use characters other than letters and numbers. These include _, #, &, $, etc. The more complex and erratic you make a password, the harder you make a hacker’s life.
Lets troll, the troller; shall we?
Are the security questions, that secure?
Have you ever searched for someone online via social media and immediately recognized someone by the base information on the preview of their profile? Imagine how simple it is to know what your mother’s maiden name, the name of your pet, or the city you were born in based on the information already on your social media pages. The key to making the security questions work for you is to lie. Not hard right? But it would suck if you forgot the answers so make sure you have somewhere secure to document your inputs for these questions.
Make a sentence:
A one-word password can be easy to crack, which is why it is smart to come up with a sentence that only you can remember. No need to use the whole sentence, just parts to make it even more confusing.
Take a simple statement like, “In the year 2000 I turned 9 years old”. It’s something simple, personal and easy to remember. Now change that sentence into a complex code only you can remember, “iTy#2tH0us4nd-It_nIn3Yo”. Now you have a complex password that’s pretty much impossible to crack.
2FA is 2 Important
Let’s say someone gets your information and breaks your password. A scary thought to be sure, but there are certain precautions you can take to further your security. Multi-factor authentication is one of those precautions. Multi-factor authentication is used to verify your identity when your account is accessed from an unrecognized device.
If any suspicious logins occur, a message is sent to your email or device to alert you. Many businesses already use multi-factor authentication to protect their clients’ information – you too should enable it wherever you can. This way, if anyone ever breaks through your password, you will be notified immediately so you can reset it and kick the hackers right out of your account.
Secure your Devices
The best passwords in the world are of no use if you don’t secure the devices they are used on.
If you have a PC, make sure that you have good antivirus software installed to prevent malware from stealing information. Some pieces of malware, known as “keyboard loggers”, can record all of your keystrokes and enable hackers to crack your passwords. Keep your information safe and secure by keeping your antivirus up-to-date at all times.
You should always have the mentality that your information is never completely secure when using public Internet or devices. If you log in to an account on a public computer like at a library or a school, make sure to log out. It would be terrible if you went through a bunch of precautions to keep your information safe and then did something careless like leaving your online profile logged in, in a public place, for anyone to see and access. Don’t ever access important information like your bank account with a publicly open Internet connection or public device. Also, be mindful of when you are logged into a device and when you need to log out, especially if that device does not belong to you.
As passwords keep all of your information safe, make an extra effort to make them strong. Take these tips, improve on them and keep hackers away from your information. Also, remember to use different passwords for all of your many online accounts. Using only one password can make it easy for a hacker to access all of your different accounts. We advise using password bank programs to help you easily record and retrieve passwords used for any website.
We use PassPortal at Biztek Solutions, but there are quite a lot of remarkable programs like LastPass, Dashlane, and many more.
For more information, please give us a call and feel free to utilize us at Biztek Solutions Inc. to provide you with the best opportunity to safely navigate through your tech.
