We get asked a lot of questions about passwords and why when we change them people think they might be somewhat obscure. Hopefully I can answer a few of these questions with the information below:
What is a secure password?
Simply put a secure password is difficult/impossible to guess, unique to the system it is protecting and not shared with anyone.
What makes a password secure?
There are a number of things that can make a password more secure some general rules are:
- Make it at least 8 characters long, longer if you are happy to do so!
- Make sure it includes a mix of the following:
- Does include upper and lower case letters.
- Does include numbers.
- Does include special characters (e.g. ? ! # @)
Why use a secure password?
People are trying to access your data, FACT, and those people using poor passwords will have their data compromised at some point, another FACT, using a secure password decreases the chances of you data being compromised. It is as simple as that!
What is an example of a secure password?
A good way to create a strong and memorable password is to use three random words. Numbers and symbols can still be used if needed, for example 3redwaTerMonkeys27!
Be creative and use words memorable to you, so that people can’t guess your password. Your social media accounts can give away vital clues about yourself so don’t use words such as family names or favourite sports team which are easy to guess. Cyber criminals know many of the simple substitutions we use such as ‘Pa55word!” which swaps numbers for letters so there is no point in doing that.
Never use the following personal details for your password:
- Family members’ names
- Pets’ names
- Place or date of birth
- Favourite holidays
- Something related to your favourite sports team
If you are not speaking to your IT Support provider about this, why not give us a ring?
James Reed
Technical Director