ARYesterday (5th May) was World Password Day, spreading awareness throughout the world about the importance of safe, strong and secure passwords.
As password security is such a vast topic with lots of ways users and businesses can easily slip up, we thought we’d run through some additional tips and tricks to ensure you are doing all you can with keeping your data secure.
Check how secure you already are
It’s very easy to think your passwords are doing everything they need to do in order to protect your business. If you have used the same password for many years and have never encountered any problems, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are strong and secure. We talked in our last piece about how long it would potentially take a computer to crack your password with a time range from a few seconds to hundreds and hundreds of years. If you want to know for certain how strong your passwords are, you can use security checkers to see how long it would take a computer to figure out your password. You’d be surprised by how quickly some of them will be cracked!
Explore password generators
Some of the best passwords are those in which we have little foresight towards. If they are incredibly random and beyond logical guessing, then these are going to be good to use. Password generators do all the work for you; just select how long you need a password to be and see what gibberish it comes back with. Yes, the generated password will be incredibly hard to remember but it will be incredibly tough to crack as well. If you’re concerned about keeping these passwords readily available, then this leads us nicely into password managers.
Use password managers to manage multiple passwords
If you are doing the right thing and using different passwords for different accounts then remembering and managing all of them is going to be hard work. Luckily, there is technology available to assist us with this. Password managers keep all your passwords in one place and are readily available to use when you need them. Your password manager will be kept secure by a master password chosen by you (this password needs to be easy to remember). If you are dealing with long, complicated passwords that are beyond recalling then password managers are the way to go. Try some of these (voted best by PC magazine 2022)
Try to make passwords as random as you can
If you need a strong password that you need to remember, then using a multiple string of disconnected words is a good method to succeed. You can still slip up though if you make it something personal to you that is apparent online. For instance, if you are the world’s biggest Beatles fan and your social media clearly shows it, using a password such as JohnPaulGeorgeRingo wouldn’t be the wisest of choices. Go random and choose something completely off the wall, for example: CoasterDogDrainageScrewdriver or LaminateCalendarFootstoolLocker. Be as creative as you want and make sure you check how secure it is when you’ve found a good one.
If you want to know more about security and how to better protect your business, why not take a look at Edtesa’s security pages and get information on all the latest tools and services. We offer a data protection service, multiple cyber-security software packages and training options, all available for you to discover!
