Password Tips and Information

In honor of World Password Day, we thought it would be a great time to brush up on password safety and security by providing you with important tips and information!

Passwords To Avoid

According to Inc.com, a lot of security risks can be directly linked to what password you choose (or don’t choose), and if you want to avoid weak passwords at your business, it’s important to make sure you steer clear of the following list:

Password – The most basic and probably the most commonly used choice, along with variations like P@ssword and P@55w0rd!! Sure, they’re easy to remember, but they’re also likely the first tries for hackers.
QWERTY – The simpler the password, the easier it is to guess. That’s what you’ll get when you use a password constructed from the row of letters at the top left of the keyboard.
1234 – Consecutive numbers are always a poor choice when it comes to choosing a password. The same goes for a sequence of letters.
BusinessName1 – If your business name happens to be Charlotte’s Flowers, don’t use CharlottesFlowers1 as a password. This is an easy guess for any hacker!
Business Address – You want to skip this entirely when it comes to passwords. For example, Main215 would be a bad password choice.
Date of Birth – Thanks to today’s internet, it’s easy to find out someone’s birthdate, so it’s better to avoid anything like birthdays, birthdates, year of births, etc.
Simple Dictionary Words – Skip any simple words, especially those related to your business. For example, “baseball”, “football”, “soccer” are words you’ll want to avoid in your passwords, as are “muffler”, “tire”, or “sparkplug” for auto parts centers.

Aside from choosing the perfect password to protect your business and personal accounts, what are other tips to protect your passwords from hackers?

Don’t Keep Your Passwords On A Piece Of Paper

Whether it’s sitting at your desk or sitting at home, or even being carried around in your wallet or purse, it’s easy to lose or misplace, and anyone who sees or finds your password will have the ability to log into your accounts.

Don’t Neglect The “Password Too Short” Message

It may be tempting to roll your eyes and just use your short password, but making your password longer makes your password stronger. It is also important that your password contains a number or symbol.

Change Your Password When Needed

Although it can be a hassle to change your already memorized password, it is important for your security to change or update your password when any accounts that you may have suggests a password update.

Since it’s World Password Day, take this opportunity to update or change any passwords that may not be up to security standards!