How strong is your password?
At Neuways, we know that cyber attacks have been on the rise in the past couple of years. More and more companies are opting to move online and host their data in various ways. Whether it be content in a CMS system or private and personal data in the cloud, almost every company now has something worth stealing online. That’s why you must understand that your password needs to be as secure as possible. It doesn’t matter if it adds an extra 30 seconds to your workday; cyber security should be your utmost priority. Below we help you to understand how to tell if your password is secure and what makes it hard to guess.
Make sure your password is not personal to you
When it comes to passwords, a lot of people use a password that is close to home. Whether it be a birthday or a hometown, the temptation is always to choose something you’ll remember. However, this shouldn’t be the case. Because if you choose something from your life, don’t put it past a hacker to guess that password. Nowadays, with Password Manager Tools like the one from Keeper, you no longer need to choose a password that is easy to remember. There is a reason the Web Developer on your team sends you excessively long passwords which are hard to remember – it makes them hard to guess for others trying to gain access using your credentials!
What if I can’t remember my password?
We briefly touched on password manager tools earlier, but now we will explain how valuable they are. With Data breaches and identity theft on the rise, and the cause often being compromised passwords, having a secure password has never been more essential.
However, there has always been a chasm between choosing a secure password and remembering it. The hardest one to guess and open yourself to cyber criminals is a generated password containing numbers, letters, and weird characters. But not every website helps you to create a password like that, and they will only have minor limitations and requirements, such as capital letters and numbers.
So, what if we told you that some password manager tools help you autogenerate passwords now, rather than just store them? Amazing, isn’t it?! That way, you now have a tool to create a virtually unguessable password and securely hold it on your browser. Keeper Password Manager Tool is one of them.
What is a weak password, and how is it easily guessed?
The answer could be in this article based on the most hacked passwords in 2022. At the top of the article, we referenced passwords that are personable to you, being easily guessable. Unfortunately, this is still the case, and people still choose to have simple passwords like pet names and birthdays as their access codes. Even if you think it is secure, the chances are it is not if it has any sentimental meaning to you. Read up on the most easily guessed and hacked passwords, and if you feel personally attacked, the chances are you need to change your password.
Vary your password on work accounts and social media
Not only does a weak password open your business up to hacking, but it can also mean your social media accounts are vulnerable. Throughout 2022, there has been a rise in cyber criminals gaining access to individuals’ LinkedIn accounts and other social networks. Whether through phishing emails or social engineering, a hacker who has your social media password will likely obtain personal information from you that they will find helpful. This is particularly the case if you have the same password for everything! Please vary your passwords. Use a password manager tool to ensure that your passwords are all stored safely; otherwise, you will be vulnerable.
Nowadays, thanks to Touch ID and Face ID, you don’t always need to enter such a long password. So why not make it a complicated one to guess? You’ll only be using it once in a while, and then it’s not so bad. A cyber attack can come about from someone hacking your password, but they can’t replicate your facial features or Touch ID. That’s why your password needs to be so secure.
Need help with your IT security?
Contact Neuways if you think your business needs help with IT security. We can consult, advise and suggest tips on making your business more secure. It can be challenging for a company to recover from a data hack. You can have business recovery procedures in place, but at Neuways, we are keen to stop it from getting that far! Fill out our contact form here to speak to Neuways.
