An easy way for you to protect your sensitive data and email is to change your passwords on a monthly basis, or even more often depending on how frequently you use computers away from home. Just as important as changing your password is choosing a good one. Let’s talk about what makes a good password and what makes a bad one.
I’ve been on the Internet a long time. In that time, I’ve visited about a zillion websites that required a username and password. OK, maybe it just seems like a zillion. Let’s just say a lot. And I’ll bet you have at least a couple of dozen passwords too. Think about it – you have one (or more) for email, your ISP (Internet Service Provider), credit cards, banks, forums, chatrooms. . .you get the gist of it. Now consider that the average human brain can only hold five to nine “random bits of information” in its short-term memory. That’s why people choose easy-to-remember passwords, which are usually the most dangerous. For instance, did you know the most common password is simply “password”? And it doesn’t help matters any that it is usually the default password for many software programs and websites. Most people don’t change it as recommended, and will even use “password” for all of their other passwords. So if you are using “password” as your password, change it today. And don’t create the same user name and password everywhere – that is almost equally dangerous. Think about it. . . if a hacker figures out your email account login and password, it will be pretty easy for them to figure out where else you have accounts and use that same login information. You might as well hang a “welcome” sign out in front of your credit card and bank account! Here are some very general rules for passwords: • Use different passwords for different accounts • Don’t use passwords that are easy to guess (family and pet names, phone numbers, months, birthdates, etc.) • Also avoid common words – such as “password”! “God” is also an especially common one. Write your passwords down on paper and keep them in a safe place. You can also keep them in your computer (such as in Excel), but print them whenever you make significant changes. You never know when your hard drive is going to crash. Be cautious if using a password software program – some of them come with spyware, so do your research. Once you come up with a new password, run it through a free password evaluator to determine its strength against hacking. Just type “password evaluator” into your Google search bar and you should have some good choices.
For more tips on choosing a good (and avoiding a bad) password, visit 1 Clean Computer.
