Since October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’d like to go over password security. According to Verizon’s 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report, 63% of confirmed data breaches involved weak, default, or stolen passwords. What does a weak, easily guessable password look like, you ask?
Here is SplashData’s “Worst Passwords of 2015 List”:
- 123456
- password
- 12345678
- qwerty
- 12345
- 123456789
- football
- 1234
- 1234567
- baseball
- welcome
- 1234567890
- abc123
- 111111
- 1qaz2wsx
- dragon
- master
- monkey
- letmein
- login
- princess
- qwertyuiop
- solo
- passw0rd
- starwars
Using weak passwords like the ones shown above leave you exposed to hackers and susceptible to identity theft. Please consider using the following tips when it comes to creating stronger passwords:
- Don’t use common names or words found in dictionaries. Hackers try passwords in different languages, even fictional ones like Klingon and Dothraki.
- Make the password at least 8 characters long. Longer passwords are harder for thieves to crack.
- Use multiple character sets (!, @, #, etc.) and a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
- Use a phrase or the letters from a phrase that is memorable to you, but avoid famous quotes/lyrics. Example: “I started 9th grade at Quincy High School in 2003” becomes “Is9gaQHSi#2003”
- Don’t use information in a password or passphrase that others can easily find on your social media sites, such your hometown or likes on Facebook.
- Don’t use the same password for all of your social media accounts.
- Change your password or passphrase regularly to prevent people from guessing it.
Want more tips on password security and how to avoid getting hacked? We’ll be covering this and a whole lot more at our upcoming seminar.
Here are the event details: www.bytecafe.net/securityseminar. The deadline to RSVP is this Friday, October 21, 2016.