We are far from the days of spartan digital footprints. It may have once been reasonable to get by with only a few internet accounts, but now it seems almost every website and application needs an account and password to provide you with personalization and security. Unfortunately, creating unique passwords, remembering, and managing them can seem impossible, making it easy to settle for weak or even repeated passwords. Don’t risk your online security by taking the easy way out; here are some tips and best practices to encourage you to improve your password security across your accounts easily.
Don’t reuse passwords
It may seem overwhelming to try and memorize a different password for every account you use but imagine the fallout of leaking personal data in a breach on any of the sites you use. If you use the same password for everything, it only takes one leak or security breach to expose your password to every account you have. So, while you may not be too concerned about a random account of yours that you only used once being hacked, this random account could expose the passwords to your email, bank, and more, if you use the same password for all of them.
You don’t have to come up with new passwords; numerous password generators and password vaults are available for free and as premium services. These services can help you generate unique, secure passwords continuously and store all your various passwords in a vault behind one master password.
Make your passwords secure
Passwords need to be unique, long, and complicated in order to be secure. Many websites now deploy an automatic password strength checker, but it is still important to be aware of what makes a strong password.
Strong passwords need to be long, at least 16 characters in an unpredictable sequence. It should also have some capital letters, numbers, and symbols. Try not to use personal details in the password, or common phrases, as someone may be able to guess the password this way more easily.
Multifactor Authentication is your friend
Multifactor Authentication (MFA) isn’t a hindrance to accessing your accounts quickly; it can be used to ensure the security of your accounts further. MFA gives you coverage if you make mistakes with your passwords. MFA makes it so that even if a user has your password, they can’t access your account without clearing MFA. To make the most of MFA, you will likely have to enable it on sites manually. When doing so, you will have the option of receiving a code over SMS, using a smartphone app to approve a request, or keeping a list of authentication keys for MFA. Whatever you choose, this will add another layer of security to your account even if your password fails you.
Continue to protect your personal details
Sometimes, when you successfully log in to an account, the website will ask for further verification of your identity by asking you preselected security questions, especially when logging in from an unrecognized device. For this reason, it is vital to continue to protect personal details from strangers on social media sites. For example, lock your friends lists, so strangers can’t see your mom’s maiden name, set your details to private, so strangers can’t google your high school mascot after seeing it listed on your profile, and keep your photos restricted to friends, so a hacker doesn’t figure out the name of your favorite dog. There are endless reasons to protect your personal privacy on social media sites; password security is just another incentive.
