Visits to older family in my household typically flip into unpaid tech consulting periods the place I’m educating them about use and handle passwords. It doesn’t look like a go to goes by the place one of many older of us in my household walks over to their desk or kitchen desk and pulls out a pocket book the place all of their passwords are conveniently written down. Ugh.
And naturally, the precise passwords used are each easy… names and birthdates of relations… in addition to repetitious. It’s actually a miracle that I haven’t seen somebody’s accounts get worn out. Right here’s an article that I’m writing the place I’m pleading with household and buddies to higher handle their passwords in addition to how.
How To Generate A Password
There are 5 distinctive traits of a robust password:
- Size – You’ll wish to all the time have a password that’s at the very least 12 characters.
- Combined Case – You’ll wish to embody each higher and decrease case characters all through.
- Numbers – You’ll wish to embody numbers in your password.
- Particular Characters – You’ll wish to embody particular characters in your password.
Want some assist? When this web page loaded, we really generated this distinctive password for you between 15 and 20 characters:
Password: fW}xR(rH.yL_uA^nL[tR
Password Management Tips
Please use two-factor authentication, and unique passwords for every platform, and store them in a secure application. Here are some explanations and options:
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) – virtually every platform now offers a means for you to use a password in combination with real-time code that’s generated by email, by text message, or with an authenticator app.
- Password Vault – If you’re on an Apple device, you can store all of your passwords securely in iCloud. This is a fantastic way to manage passwords because you can pick a strong, unique password for every service you have but you don’t have to remember them. Just use Safari and your Apple device will pre-fill the passwords. An alternative on Google is to use Google Chrome as your browser. As long as you’re logged into Google on your browser, your passwords are available across any device you’re logged into Google with.
- Password Apps – Mobile and desktop applications like LastPass allow you to store every password securely in their platform. They have browser plugins and mobile apps to help you retrieve them or pre-fill password fields. Another nice feature of these platforms is that they typically have an emergency contact that can gain access to your passwords in the event of an emergency.
- Suggested Passwords – Password vaults and applications offer suggested passwords that are difficult to guess either manually or programmatically. I’d encourage you to always use and store a suggested password rather than writing your own.
- Don’t Share – Do not share your password with anyone. As a business, you should be utilizing enterprise platforms that enable you to create users who have limited access with their own passwords.
- Change Your Passwords – Periodically changing your passwords can help increase their strength and protect your accounts. Some security experts recommend changing your passwords every few months or so.
Disclosure: Martech Zone is an affiliate of LastPass and we are using our affiliate link in this article.
