Blog - Passwords: The Magic Words Which Shall Not Be Named

How many times a day do you type in a password? Probably a lot. Enough to do it on autopilot at this point, right? Well, it’s time to turn autopilot off and give your passwords a long, hard look—because strong passwords truly help to lay the foundation for solid cybersecurity.

Let’s set ourselves up for success with these tips for better, more secure (and easier to remember) passwords:

Don’t Reuse Passwords

Statistically, you may be reuse your password. One Google survey found that 52% of people reuse passwords across multiple sites! Here’s why that’s such a bad idea ...

Studies reveal that a hacker attacks every 39 second. Oftentimes these cybercriminals walk away with a long list of usernames and passwords. With the average user owning over 90 accounts, the reality is that it’s unlikely you don’t have any compromised accounts. Even if you are so lucky, it’s probably only a matter of time.

When a cybercriminal obtains your email and password, one of the first things they’ll do is try it out on other websites to see if you duplicated the password on any accounts with sensitive information.

When every password that you use is unique, however, you drastically mitigate the damage of a compromise. Then, a criminal who gains your login credentials to a small internet forum you frequent won’t be able to use that password to access your bank account, credit monitoring service, or any website that has saved your credit card information.

What Makes a Password Strong

So, a password needs to be unique … but what else?

The Basics

There’s not necessarily a magic number when it comes to password length, but longer is stronger! It’s recommended that you aim for at least 10-15 characters.

Your password is often required to include numbers, letters, and special characters. We love a good exclamation point as much as the next person, but it’s pretty predictable as far as special characters are concerned; try incorporating spaces into your passwords instead, when allowed.

Lay Password123 To Rest

No, “abc123” isn’t an original password—and neither is “qwerty,” “iloveyou,” or “letmein.” Year after year, these kinds of passwords end up on “Worst Password” lists. Steer clear of cliches and come up with something a little more creative. Not only will an original password make you more cybersecure, it’ll sprinkle a little fun into your daily life.

Passphrases

Speaking of making your passwords more secure and fun, have you ever heard of a passphrase? Passphrases can be inside jokes—or anything impossible to guess, really! They’re a great way to create long, original passwords that incorporates spaces and stay easy to remember. For example, “The N@mes B0nd. J@mes B0nd.” could be your passphrase; it is long, includes capitalization, spaces, numbers, and a special character to make it extra safe.

Password Managers

If you’re thinking, “There’s no way I can remember strong, unique passwords for every account, even if I use passphrases,” we have another secret: the password manager. These are applications that store login credentials for each of your accounts. You only need to remember one strong master password to open your password manager’s vault. Once you’re logged in, the manager can fill your username and password into each website so you never have to type a thing. Your password stays encrypted, meaning cybercriminals won’t be able to see it. Popular password managers include (but are not limited to) 1Password, LastPass, NordPass, KeePass, and Dashlane. Ask your security team or research to find the best one for your personal and professional use.

Security Questions

Security questions probably aren’t a foreign concept to you; plenty of websites use them to verify your identity should you forget your password. Unfortunately, many websites offer questions with answers that can be easily guessed by doing a little internet recon. Your spouse’s middle name can probably be found online, as can your mother’s maiden name. Even your favorite place to eat, your favorite color, and the name of the town where you were born can likely be deduced. When using security questions, pick those with answers that can’t reasonably be discovered through your Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) verifies your identity in more than one way. It combines something you know (usually your password) with something that you have (such as a phone number) and/or something that you are (like a fingerprint). Setting up MFA makes it much more difficult for a cybercriminal to get into your account; a lonely password is much easier to compromise than a password backed up by a second factor. You can use MFA through a text message, code-generating app, or physical token. Text messages are the least secure way to MFA, so if you’re given an option when setting up MFA for your account, save texts as your last choice.

The Big Deal With Sharing Passwords

You’ve been told not to share your password, but when your best-friend Chris asks for your Netflix password, you may think, “It’s fine, I trust Chris.” Here’s the thing: Chris doesn’t have to be untrustworthy for it to be a bad idea to share your password with them. Even if Chris would never share your password intentionally, they still may still be exposing you to vulnerabilities.

When you share your password with someone, you’re making yourself vulnerable to a second, completely different set of cybersecurity risks you no longer have any control over. Any bad cybersecurity habits that your friend, family member, or coworker has are now putting your accounts at risk.

Raise Your Passwords Right

Only you can give your passwords the care they need to be big and strong. You are your own best protection against cyber threats. Download a password manager, get rid of those old passwords you’ve used over and over again, and have a little fun replacing them with passphrases that suit your fancy.