Password

Security

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 haveBefore 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

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 ruleThe 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 ProtectionHere is an infographic stating the password breaches and the basic guidelines each one of us can follow to keep our accounts secure.