It goes without saying that passwords are meant to be both incredibly personal and private. However, with some users utilizing birthdays and the word “password” itself as their easily crackable barrier between hackers and their personal data, many are being encouraged to step up their game and get clued in on various methods to eliminate easy access.
The most recent advice goes beyond a single world admission and promotes using phrases. Connect Safely informed their readers, “Such a phrase should be relatively long – perhaps 20 characters or so and consist of seemingly random words strung together along with numbers, symbols and upper and lower case letters. Think of something that you can remember but others couldn’t guess such as YellowChocolate#56CadillacFi$h.”
Users are urged to use at least 12 characters while simultaneously adding numbers, symbols, and various uppercase and lowercase letters. However, crafting an ironclad password is only half the battle. It’s imperative to seek protection beyond the phrase by avoiding phishing emails and making sure your devices are secure.
Finally, it is strongly recommended to never use the same password twice. While it may be a bit of a headache tracking numerous passwords with their own creative twist, it will make hacking your accounts much more difficult for outside sources. You are only as hackable as the complex passwords you choose to utilize.
