Nana just had her Facebook and phone hacked! Why would anyone bother Nana, there's no financial gain to be had by hacking Nana's Facebook and phone. Yet there she was using a weak password and now had messages going out to her friends that were not from her. Passwords are the first line of defense. Make them good. |
Here are 6 tips for good password management.
- Use a password manager! There are 2 that iON likes, LastPass and DashLane. They are both easy to use and very secure. They will autofill the passwords on all sites that you visit. They will also score your passwords and let you know how many sites use the same password (bad practice, see below.) A good password manager will also be able to keep secured notes for you, ie banking information. Get rid of the spreadsheets and sticky notes and use a Password Manager. If you would like help setting up the password manager for your organization, iON can help.
- Make the password complex. Using a phrase is good just make sure that it isn't all alphabets. Here's an example of a good password. Iam:)2B29! (I am happy to be 29) it is 10 characters, it should at least be 8, it has uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols. Here's the rules that you should follow, 8 characters and at least 3 of these, uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. If you are using a Password manager then you really don't care how complex your passwords are since you don't really have to know the password, the manager will do that for you.
- Don't just use one password for all your sites. That's actually how the hackers got into Nana's phone. She was using the same password for both Facebook and the phone.
- Never give out your password to anyone, obviously. A Password Manager will allow you to share a password with someone securely. Otherwise, don't give it out.
- Use 2 factor authentication when possible. Usually a code is sent to your phone/email. It's very secure.
- Stay Calm and Carry On. Do everything that you can to protect yourself and if you follow the above 5 things then you in good shape. Relax.