Today we live in a password dependent world where all the information is protected by passwords. The access to all the information depends on passwords. A password is a secret key to all of our accounts from emails to social media to bank accounts. Whether we want to access our important information or trade online we make use of passwords to login into our accounts.
Password security is the most common problem for security of online accounts. The problem with using passwords is that most of us don’t use strong passwords for our accounts. There are many people who use the same password for multiple accounts. This means if someone hacks your password he may gain access to all of your accounts.
Some people use very weak passwords such as their name, date of birth, maiden name and other easy to predict passwords. This enables the hackers to easily predict your password and access to your valuable information. For example, if your use ‘123456’ or ‘password’ then you put your account at the highest possible risk, because this is what hackers try in their first attempts even before trying ‘password1’ OR ‘password2’.
The best practice is to use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols which are difficult to guess. A hacker can have a look for the information such as your name, address, phone number, the street you live in on your Facebook profile and easily guess your password in a few attempts if you have used any of them in your password.
For more safety, you can create a password of 10 characters comprising a mix of alphabets, digits and special characters. For example, a simple 4-digit password can be created using only numbers with 10,000 possible combinations. Adding one more digit makes the count of possible combinations up to 1, 00,000. Thus, you can imagine how powerful can be a 10 character password that is a mix of alphabets, digits and special characters.
Also, one should avoid using reusing the same password on multiple sites because hackers are aware of the fact that 30 to 50 percent of users use the same password for multiple accounts. Once the attackers are successful in hacking your password they can easily try logging into other sites using the same username and password, the technique being known as “password reuse attack”. Hackers know that people don’t want to remember multiple passwords for different accounts. Not only people use the same passwords, but the same security questions and answers for multiple accounts. Now you can imagine what a hacker can do once he gets your password or security question and answer used for multiple accounts.
You should use password manager programs like Roboform (for Windows) or LastPass (for Windows and Mac). Password managers are programs that let you create strong passwords for all your accounts. You only need to remember the password to access that program or website that manages and stores the passwords for all your sites.
Password managers create and store long and complicated passwords for all your online accounts, thereby offering protection from hackers. Password managers protect all your vital information such as PINs, credit card/debit card numbers, CVV codes, answers to security questions with strong encryption that make them almost impossible for a hacker to crack.
There is no need to remember all the passwords for multiple accounts. You are required to remember only one password that is needed to unlock your vault for the password manager.
Roboform, LastPass, 1Password, Dashlane and KeePass are some of the most popular password managers used today. Some password managers are free to use but some charge you for their services. Some companies offer free basic services and charge only for their premium services.
If you are not sure about password security for your online accounts, you can contact an IT support company. Zero Effort Networking is a company that offers IT support in Sydney and its surroundings for more than 20 years.
For more information on IT support please visit the following link – IT Support in Sydney. You can also email us at info@zen.net.au or Call us at 1300 93 94 95 and we will be happy to help you.