The Internet has become embedded in everyone’s daily life. Many have grown increasingly dependent upon the Internet for social connections, shopping, banking, and more. While the benefits are far reaching, this pervasive connectivity also brings an increased risk of identity fraud and data theft that requires constant vigilance in order to protect online identities and proactively manage against online threats.
The best first defense is employing strong password best practices.
To help protect yourself, keep in mind the following tips for managing and securing your passwords. Don’t rely upon a business or website to provide this safety – make sure you’re in control of your own online security.
- Keep your passwords secret. Don’t reveal passwords on questionnaires or allow websites to remember you.
- Update your passwords frequently. Every 60 days to six months is recommended.
- Create different usernames and passwords for each login or application you are trying to protect. Make your password at least eight characters, mix your cases, use symbols and other non-alphanumeric characters.
- Avoid writing down passwords or storing them in a Word document or text file. Use a password management tool and/or choose a passphrase or combination of words to make the password easier to remember.
- Don’t type passwords onto computers you don’t control, over open Wi-Fi networks or on a Web page accessed via an e-mail link.
- Limit the amount of personal info you post about yourself and avoid passwords with personally identifiable information, such as birthday, names of relatives or pets, or street address.
- Avoid reusing passwords or making minor variations to ones previously used. Use look-alike characters (i.e. S and $), phonetic replacements (i.e.'Luv 2 Laf' for 'Love to Laugh’), and random characters from books or license plates.
- Refrain from using "strong example passwords,” such as titles of books, movies, poems, songs or places and events, common acronyms (i.e. NASA) and words in foreign languages (i.e. bienvenido1) in your password.
- Weak passwords use repeating combinations, one type of character, keyboard patterns, or sequential numbers. Therefore, add random characters or change case (i.e. cOm!PuteR).
- Test your password on free resources such as The Password Meter and How Secure Is My Password? to see if it can withstand cracking attempts. You can also try a random password generator, such as the one developed by IObit.
