Strengthen your passwords
Passwords are the primary means of protecting sensitive information stored online. Weak or compromised passwords can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and identity theft.
Avoid weak passwords! Weak passwords are the most common way online criminals access accounts! A weak password is a combination of characters or words that is easy for anyone to guess. Simple passwords, like 12345, password, querty are not safe to protect your accounts. Passwords using your common
identifying information like your name, birthday, pet names or favourite sports team name, are also not secure.
A password is also considered weak if it is reused across multiple accounts or only changed slightly for different accounts.
Avoid recognizable keystroke patterns!
Any pattern you create with your keyword like QWERTY or 1QAZ2WSX.
Avoid personal information in passwords!
Incorporating personal details like date of birth, street
name, or first name into passwords. For instance, a
password like David93 or Maplewood093 for an individual
named David, born in 1993, living on Maplewood Street.
Avoid common passwords!
Using common passwords like
(top 10 most used passwords):
- 123456
- 123456789
- qwerty
- password12345
- querty123
- 1q2w3e
- 12345678
- 111111
- 1234567890
Avoid repeated characters!
Passwords that consist of only repeated characters or numbers, like 666666 or ddddd.
Avoid using the same password!
Using the same passwords for multiple accounts, if one account is compromised, all your other accounts are also at risk.
Generate strong passwords!
A strong password is a combination of unique characters that is difficult for others to guess or for advanced technology to crack.
To generate a strong password, we must follow the following rules:
Complex passwords
– At least 16 characters – longer is stronger!
– Use mixed-case letters, numbers, and special characters.
Random passwords
Preferably we should opt to create random passwords without any meaning, like:
– HdQ%n&m88zBPSX5x
– vgyKQ#!oD*i8dVEUV2bmY
For obvious reasons, those passwords are very easy to forget. That’s why you might consider creating a password
composed by series of random words that are both easier to remember and type.
– Good: HorsePurpleHatRun
– Great: Horse-Purple-Hat-Run-Bay
– Amazing: H0rs€-Purp1e-H@t-Run-B@y-L1ft/ng
Unique passwords
Make sure each account has a unique strong password. This ensures that if one account is compromised, all other accounts are still secure.
Password Rotation
It is typically recommended to change passwords by time to time. Every 30, 60, or 90 days (the less time the better).
By changing passwords regularly, cybercriminals have less time to attempt to hack into accounts.
