6 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Keeping Passwords Secure but Were Afraid to Ask

by James Eling | Feb 9, 2023 | Podcast

keeping your passwords secure to protect your business online

Passwords have been around since the dawn of the digital age. From simple usages such as e-mails to more complex ones such as finance systems like banks or their respective applications and websites. Since passwords are essentially the keys to the kingdom, it is vital that they are protected. In this episode, we will discuss seven tips to help you maintain good practices when it comes to keeping your passwords secure, and eventually, protecting your business online.

Best tips to keep your passwords secure

1. Use long passwords

An ideal password is long and it consists of different variations such as special characters, a mixture of upper and lower case, and numbers. However, people usually go for shorter and easy-to-remember passwords, which have low security and make a password prone to brute force attacks. A good password is actually a passphrase that is mixed with all the other best practices mentioned here.

2. Keep your passwords private

Certain people share their passwords with others. This action alone opens up your accounts to a lot more possible attacks since their habits could be troublesome. Like writing the password down somewhere be it a piece of paper or a digital copy. Remember, NEVER give your password to anyone. Legitimate companies won’t ask for it anyway.

3. Avoid using personal information

This is a common error with passwords ever since they became a thing. People usually put easy-to-remember details like birthdays, important dates, or names in their passwords. This is a bad thing to do since birthdays are usually easy to find out through research and they will try it for your password.

4. Never reuse passwords

There are those people that have a sort of default password on sites that aren’t so important. But this is problematic because some shady organizations have databases or lists that compromise accounts’ passwords and they can try those same passwords on other websites that the individual visits.

5. Using a password manager

Although using a password manager or other methods similar in concept is tempting, it shouldn’t be a decision you take lightly. Having a low-security password “manager” like an excel sheet, or even just a list like on Notepad, is already a risky idea. Some users who value security, oftentimes use specific apps or services like LastPass.

6. Keep your passwords updated

Another good practice to do is changing your passwords often. Regularly updating your password makes you less predictable and it effectively “shakes” cyber criminals who already have your passwords off your tail.

7. Enable multi-factor authentication

This by far is one of the best practices you can do for anything that requires logging in. Having this system makes it significantly harder for cybercriminals to get access to accounts

And with that, we hope we have provided sufficient insight into how to create and maintain good practices in keeping your passwords secure. Cyber Security 4 Small Business is a set of resources to help small business owners understand the Cyber Threat and be able to defend their network in the most cost-effective way possible and protect their business online.

We believe that 95% of Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience can be achieved through good systems administration and good processes, without all the expense of engaging cyber security experts.

If you have any inquiries, please reach out to our team here or contact us through our various social media handles and accounts.