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Seven Ways to Keep your Password Safe

Our lives seem to be amass with distractions and chaos. Thankfully, several technologies make our lives easier, even for all their flashing lights and reminders. Though one thing that should not be taken lightly when it comes to flashing lights, reminders and technologies is passwords. A strong set-up in regards to your password is the difference between being safe online, or falling victim to a hacker.

In life, a new laptop is one of the greatest joys and to make sure your new baby is protected as strongly as possible, it should look as though a small child has just should a temper tantrum on the keyboard. Yes, we’re talking “Kirhd89!L0”, quite literally. If you are a new laptop owner, we’ve compiled a list of seven things you ought to do when you buy a new PC.

1. Have you ever wondered to yourself how safe is my password? Well, you should never use a common name or word. So, it should never be “password”, or “summer”, or “Christmas”, if it seems too obvious, then the likelihood is that it is and therefore, not strong enough.

  1. Similarly, your password should never have personal significance, save these for the security question if you do happen to forget your password, you know “What is your mother’s maiden name?”, or “Name the town you grew up in”, etc. Never include your own name, spouse’s name, pet’s name in your password.
  2. It should never be six characters or less, however, don’t just create a long password. Admittedly, C4tttttt is a lot more secure than C4ts, but repeated characters aren’t really recommended. Of course, this is fine for one or two characters but don’t remain entirely dependent on repeated characters to up the security of your password and make it watertight. Hackers are smart individuals and cannot be undermined.
  3. Of course, whilst it is a good idea to use numbers in your password, don’t use your birthdate. This is your personal information and for accounts, it’s likely that your name and date of birth will be linked to said password, thus the hacker will have access to it. Aim for a random series of numbers, albeit a sequence you can remember.
  4. Your password should never just contain all lowercase letters. Pad your password instead, at the beginning and end, insert numbers and special characters, this will also make it easier to remember for yourself but still nigh on impossible for hackers to crack. For example, rather than ‘cat123’, or ‘catttt2’, use ‘!2cat2!’.
  5. It may sound like an awful lot of effort creating a watertight password but it’s well worth it, and this is something we recommend doing for all accounts, though do not use the same one for all accounts. You ought to have a separate and completely different one for your social media accounts, financial accounts and e-mail address. Though, don’t just mix them up slightly, !2cat2! to 2!cat12!, completely change them.
  6. Keep your passwords separate and never store them in other accounts. Do not email them for other accounts to yourself. If you do have problems when it comes to remembering it, write it down if you must, though insert some asterisks in there for characters you’re sure to remember and do not say what account it is for.

 

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