Strong Passwords for your business

One of the first ways you should be keeping your data secure is through the use of strong passwords! Today’s digital leglislation and regulations leave us no choice but to take the security of data very seriously, and for that reason, you should be using a strong password.

The benefits of using an improved password include, evidence of keeping your data secure in the event of a breach, and reducing the likelihood of a data breach.  So when you make your password, don’t make any of the following mistakes:

  1. Don’t make your password shorter than 12 characters in length. This will increase the time it takes an attacker to crack it.
  2. Don’t include any less than 3 types of characters (lower-case, upper-case, numbers, and symbols). These will add to the complexity of your password, making it tougher to guess.
  3. Don’t use the same password for any longer than 6 months without changing it. Your password may be hard to crack for an attacker, but if they run their password-cracking tool on it for several months then they can crack just about any password which doesn’t meet the minimum complexity requirements.
  4. Don’t use a word in your password which could be found in the dictionary or a person’s name. Keep your password impersonal to you. If your best friend can guess it then so can an attacker.

Now, here are some of the things you should do:

  1. Use an algorithm to create your password and make it unique to each site you use it for. See more on these algorithms below.
  2. Use a password vault. Do your research to make sure you pick out a good one. But these are considered a very safe place to store your passwords and an efficient way of keeping on top of all your unique passwords for every site.
  3. Set a password minimum complexity requirement on your machine. This means, when you set a new password it will only accept an input which is considered secure.
  4. Keep up to date with password leakages. Every now and then, a site will become compromised and all of the passwords will be released on the dark web. However, if your security provider, vault, or browser is efficient then it will warn you about this.

Looking to stay ahead of the threats which threaten your digital existence? Cyber Wise Angels have got plenty of advice to keep you in the know. We’ve partnered with them to bring you some expert knowledge on all things cyber. Have a look at their site by clicking on the logo to the side.