Password Guidelines
We use passwords every day. They are used to secure all types of data, from our personal financial information to our shopping and email accounts to the data we work with at the office. When we use weak passwords, like 123456 or ‘password’, the two most commonly used passwords, or any word in the dictionary, we make ourselves vulnerable to hackers and identity theft. Weak passwords are easily cracked by hackers. Using strong, unique passwords is a simple step that mitigates the potential of being hacked. The more layers of security implemented, the more secure your information will be.
Tips to use:
Below are a few tips and tricks you can use when creating or changing a password. Also included are some elements to avoid using to increase the strength of your passwords.
- Use an acronym you create from a sentence, a favorite quote, or phrase. These are referred to as passphrases. Here is an example of a password, using Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water to create a password, J&Jw^th2f@poW ()
- Use a minimum of 8 alpha-numeric characters and symbols
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Use a combination of characters
- Upper-case letters
- Lower-case letters
- Numbers
- Symbols (Examples: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ~ ` < > ? : " { } | [ ] \ ; ' , . / )
-
Use similar characters in place of each other
- Replace the O in octopus with the number 0
- Use an upper-case letter in place of a lower-case letter
- Substitute a letter (S) with a symbol ($)
- Update your passwords regularly
Some things to Avoid
- Any word you can find in the dictionary
- Limit the use of repeating characters
- Keyboard patterns
- Single character type, such as all lower-case, upper-case, or all numbers
- Using the same password for multiple applications, websites, or systems.
- Never share your password
- Never write down your password
- Using passwords used as an example
I hope this information is helpful. Remember, the passwords we use are often the only thing keeping a hacker or unauthorized user from accessing our banking, credit card, or other sensitive information, unless you are using Multi-Factor (MFA) or Two Factor Authentication (2FA). To learn more about MFA, please read the article in this newsletter about that technology.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or need assistance, please let one of the IT staff members know. We are happy to assist you in any way we can.
References:
https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204644370/strong-password-guidelineshttps://www.digicert.com/blog/3-reasons-for-strong-password-policy/https://www.webarxsecurity.com/website-hacking-statistics-2018-february/https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/hacking-statistics/
Chris Glase
