It's World Password Day!

02 May 2019  
Be password-smart!
Ever go to a website and put in your password, only to be informed that your password is incorrect, even though you know it isn’t?

Sometimes it's because the company has decided in your behalf that you need to change your password. Often when this happens, their security team has also created a set of strict requirements for the new password. 

Yes, this is a nuisance, but (I hate saying this, it makes me sound like my mother), it’s really for your own good.  

So, today is the first Thursday in May, and that means it’s World Password Day. It’s a day meant to promote better password habits. 

There are many things you can do to increase your cyber safety and protect your information, but it really all starts with a strong password. 

If you’re still using '123456' or ‘password’ you might as well just publish all your confidential data on facebook for the entire world to see. Here is a list of some of the worst passwords in 2018. If your password is on this list, you need to change it, pronto!

Here are some tips to creating a strong password:

1. Don’t make it obvious. Your pet’s name, your birthday, your anniversary, or anything that people can figure out from your FB page is probably weak.

2. Make your passwords long. According to the website Android Headlines, "Standard brute-force password crackers work by trying thousands of different passwords a second, and seeing if each one works. This means that longer passwords are much more secure, because a password that contains 12 characters will take eons (literally) to crack in this way."

3. Change your password on a regular basis.

4. Use a password manager to remember those long, mixed-character passwords for you. Consumer’s Advocate recommends these - you can also check out your App Store for your platform.

And here’s a video we’ve created to get you started!

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Lynne LaMaster
