Did you know that cybercrime is on the rise? No matter what sector you’re working in, there’s a good chance that the information that you hold is of interest to some slightly unsavory characters. While data breaches make headline news when they involve household names, it’s worrying that small and medium businesses are targeted far more often.
It’s not just about business, though. With more and more of us joining social media platforms, information about us is floating around online. How do we keep this information and data secure? Well, the first line of defense is a strong password. What makes a good password, and what happens when things go wrong? That’s what we’re going to look at next.
What is a password?
Okay, let’s start at the very beginning. When you create an account online, you’ll usually be asked to provide a username and a password. It’s common for your username to be something as simple as your email address. That means that once someone knows your email address, your only line of defense is your password. That is the words, letters, numbers, or phrases that you select so that you, and you alone, can access certain information and accounts.
According to CyberGhost’s guide, 89% of data breaches are down to either weak or stolen passwords. Perhaps even more worryingly, 23.2 million people still use the password “123456”. That is giving criminals a free ticket to access your valuable data.
What goes into making a strong password?
Hopefully, you realize that passwords such as “123456” just don’t cut it. If you want to create a password that keeps your information as secure as possible, you need to consider the following:
- Make your password at least 12 characters long. If you can make it 14 or more, that’s even better
- Include a combination of upper and lowercase letters as well as numbers and symbols
- Don’t use a word that can be found in a dictionary
- Avoid names of people and organizations
- Each password that you create needs to be significantly different from any others that you have
- Consider something easy to remember but extremely hard to guess
Take steps to keep your password secure
When you’ve created the perfect password, you then need to take steps to keep it secure. Here’s a look at how:
- Never share your password. Don’t even let friends and family know what you’re using
- Never send your password through the likes of email or instant messaging – these may not be as secure as you think
- Use a new password for each website. That means that if your password does fall into the wrong hands, its usefulness is limited
- Rather than writing passwords down, consider writing down a hint that will jog your memory
Remember, a password serves to protect you and it’s important to get this right. A poor password can cost you financially, and, as a business, it can quickly destroy reputations when a breach takes place.
