“ Pa**w0*d ”

The simplest and most effective way of protecting our assets and data. Passwords should be strongly protected. Once a cybercriminal has your password a lot of damage can be done. If they have access to your email they can simply run ‘forgot password’ on your online accounts like PayPal or ASOS. Then they can do a whole heap of things if they have access.

And how about your social media? If a hacker was to gain access to your social media, the damage they could do could be catastrophic. They could tweet or post things that do not align with your character or DM your crush saying something wild *cough* *cough*. So, creating a strong password can prevent this.

Picking a strong password can be a pain as there are so many requirements now. There has to be a special character, capital letter, a number and minimum of 53.66 characters. If you do have a MacBook, you’ll have come across Apple suggesting to use a 25 character long password. Am I expected to memorise this or? However, this is very secure as the chances of someone guessing that password are very low. Cyber specialists suggest using a password with 12 – 15 characters.

Like myself, we have many online accounts so it can be a problem trying to remember so many different passwords. Also, typing in your password each time can be a real pain. We are given the option to have a password manager which will store all our passwords securely however, I would not recommend using your browser to remember your password as this can be compromised and your passwords can be seen.

Hackers can attempt to gain access to your account by using a method called a dictionary attack. A dictionary attack is a program that will go through a list of common words that are used in passwords. This is a brute force technique so the longer and more complex your password is, the harder it is for the hacker to crack your password.

Two-factor Authentication. You may have come across this term before. This adds another layer of security to your account. Two-factor authentication grants access only after successfully inputting two forms of evidence. After entering your password correctly you receive a text message containing a security code which you’ll have to enter. Businesses have implemented this measure for their employees as a means of protecting company assets and reducing the attack surface. An attack surface is the amount of vulnerabilities an attacker can exploit in order to gain access to your accounts. Annoyingly, not all sites and apps use two factor authentication, but I would suggest using it wherever possible.

Strong Password system

A system I would suggest is using a random word, then a random four digit code, then an abbreviation of the account we are accessing and end with special characters. It does not necessarily have to be in that order, you should mix it up.  Once you’ve remembered your sequence you’ll only have to change two characters for the rest of your accounts.

Example for Snapchat: Gucci2792SC-#-#

Example for Instagram: Gucci2792IG-#-#

Example for Netflix: Gucci2792NF-#-#

You don’t have to follow this method but if you see some funky transactions …. Don’t look at me like I owe you anything.

Make sense? lovely stuff.

Changing and remembering passwords can be draining but remember, taking the necessary steps now can protect us from compromising situations in the future.

Tips with T

– Use two-factor authentication wherever possible – Change your password regularly  – Don’t use the same password across multiple websites  – Don’t tick save password when logging in online – If your password is a common word then misspell it e.g. Chocolate — cH0cOL4t3