Do you think, you know everything about password security? Most of us become most vulnerable online due to password breach…even the security conscious paranoid of us out there.
2. Do you think, you know everything about password security?
Most of us become most vulnerable online due to password
breach…even the security conscious paranoid of us out there.
Websites tell us to use all numbers or use upper and lower case
combination or different things to make the password secure. But
does it really make a password secure? A password like
„Bka5234JS7j8pol‟ does not promise complete protection. What
the websites actually tell us are good guidelines towards creating
passwords, which are safe.
What makes a password safe, anyway?
A safe password is the one that somebody cannot guess easily or
guess from the information available to him about you.
Whom are we protecting our passwords from?
Most of us have the misguided notion that we are protecting our
accounts through these passwords from strangers and malicious
hackers. We focus on creating passwords that strangers will not
be able to break. This is wrong! You should be more concerned
about protecting your password from people who know you or
have information about you. It is 80% people around us who
break into our accounts, rather than hackers.
Passwords NEVER to have
Before we start thinking about making complicated and difficult
passwords, here are few passwords, which are ridiculously
obvious. Nobody should ever have the following passwords:
Have the password be “password.”
Use his or her Birthday as the password– seriously, anyone
can find this out.
Use their anniversary date, or graduation date as the
password.
Use their area code, address or phone number as the
password
3. Use the name of their spouse, significant other or crush as a
password.
Use their favorite color, favorite band, or any sort of passion
as a password.
Have the password “thisisnotapasswordlol” as a password.
Things that we love are the biggest open secret of our lives and it
takes no effort to guess it. Personal information can be found
easily. Your address is not a secret, your phone number is not a
secret and your favorite food is not a secret.
Most important password rule
The most important rule is forgotten most easily. Don‟t tell
anybody your password, not even your spouse. If your password
is known to anybody, then it is not safe anymore. If for some
reason you just have to tell your password, then change it
immediately after the work is done. Change password for all sites
that are identical.
So what password is safe?
A password doesn‟t necessarily have to be complicated. It has to
be unpredictable. Your password is safe with or without 3
numbers and 2 capital letters as long as nobody can guess it. Of
course it helps to add random numbers and capitals. Make sure
you can remember it. Do not write it down.
Password Protection
Here is an infographic stating the password breaches and the
basic guidelines each one of us can follow to keep our accounts
secure.