A password safe is a secure way to keep track of your usernames and passwords. It can help protect you against phishing scams, spyware and brute force attacks.
It also makes it easier to create strong passwords, which are important for protecting your online accounts. Security experts recommend that your passwords be 8-14 characters long, contain a mix of letters and numbers, and include uppercase and lowercase letters.
The Basics
Password safe practice is the best way to keep your data protected from cybercriminals. This means using strong passwords and not sharing your information with anyone who asks for it.
Creating good passwords takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s worth it to avoid security breaches. NCCIC/US-CERT reminds users that a single password breach can affect their ability to access all of their accounts, and can result in serious financial losses.
The best passwords are at least 12 – 15 characters long, and can contain letters, numbers and symbols. Adding numbers and symbols to your passwords makes them an order of magnitude harder for attackers to crack.
It’s also a good idea to use unique letters, numbers and symbols for each password. This will prevent a criminal from trying to steal your login credentials for all of your accounts and apps.
Creating a Strong Password
Creating a strong password is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your digital life. A weak password is the quickest way for hackers to break into your accounts and access your personal data.
Hackers often use a tool known as a dictionary attack to try and crack your password. This method involves generating a list of possible words and then trying to guess your password by combining the words.
A strong password should be a combination of letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, symbols, and a random word or phrase. This ensures that your password is unique and difficult to guess.
Longer Passwords Are Better: The more characters you have in your password, the longer it will take a hacker to guess it. This is because each character multiplies the number of possible combinations by a factor of two, making it significantly harder to guess.
It’s also a good idea to avoid using your name, birthday, or any other personal information. Those are all information that cybercriminals can easily collect from social media, or by listening in on a conversation with a friend.
Changing Your Passwords Regularly
Changing your passwords regularly is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from cybercriminals. It makes it much more difficult for hackers to access your online accounts and steal your personal information.
The number of times you should change your passwords is largely dependent on how many different websites and apps you use, but generally, experts recommend that they should be changed every three to six months.
Aside from being an easy way to keep your information secure, changing your passwords regularly also ensures that even if someone does find an old password, they’ll no longer have access to it.
Typically, banks will prompt their customers to change their passwords within a certain period of time. However, if you don’t have a bank that does this, it is important to change your passwords at least a few times a year.
Using a Password Manager
In today’s cyber security landscape, passwords are an important part of keeping your information safe. However, remembering complex keystroke combinations and making changes frequently can be difficult for most people to manage.
Password managers make the process much easier. Essentially, they capture your usernames and passwords when you login to apps and sites and store them in a digital vault for safekeeping.
Some password managers offer additional features to help protect sensitive data, such as credit card information. Some also provide password auditing to check for weak or duplicate passwords.
To use a password manager, you’ll need to set up an account and choose a master password that encrypts your digital vault. This password will unlock your account and allow you to log in to the password manager.
