I’m never one for encouraging or promoting New Year’s resolutions unless it’s something practical and attainable. Ok, and something that you know you can follow through with! We talk a lot about data security in terms of backups here at Small Dog Electronics, but we do not talk a lot about password security. Passwords can feel like the bane of our existence some days! We need passwords for just about everything we want to do on the internet, we need them for gaming, online purchases, our banking and more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen users keeping their usernames and passwords written directly on their computers, sticky notes taped to the underside of their computer, a file right on their desktop called “passwords” and more. I think I’ve probably seen every possible WRONG way you can store your usernames and passwords. I get it, it’s frustrating to forget this information and even worse when it’s a login you have to change every 3-4 months.
To make dealing with passwords a little easier and more secure, using password management software can be crucial in organization and security. We use a service at Small Dog called 1Password, There is also another service called LastPass. that works just as well. Your keychain through your iCloud account can also be used, but, if you need to securely share information with others using one of these other services can be a better solution. We like 1Password and with the frequent need to update passwords and usernames on different sites, it’s extremely functional to ensure that we don’t get locked out of accounts.
I am sure that some of you have seen Safari suggest a random and impossible to remember password suggestion when you need to reset a password, another reason for secure password storage. As crooks and scammers get smarter, we have to get smarter about our passwords. We might prefer to use a near to your heart password combination that you know you won’t forget, but those are often the most easily hacked.
With password management software you will still need to remember a few key passwords and usernames. Afterall, you do have to use a secure password to get into your password filing system. When you are creating passwords, always try and use a combination of numbers, letters and even characters when the sites permit it. Random and longer passwords are always recommended. You might try what I call the sentence trick when creating a new password. This is where you could have a favorite movie line or excerpt from a poem and use that as the base for your password. For example “Now is the time for more fun!” This could turn into a password “N1tt4mf!” I took the first letter of each word and changed some letters for numbers with a special character at the end.
Just as important as tips for what to do to keep your passwords secure is what NOT to do! Always enable two-step verification whenever possible. It’s a bit frustrating at times but is one tip you won’t regret for account security. When using two-step authentication and password management systems keep in mind you can still be vulnerable. You will want to avoid common habits like using the same password on multiple sites. One major benefit of password management software is it remembers your account information, so it eliminates the urge to use common passwords across multiple sites. Once you have filed your account information, discard those old sticky notes! You do not want to keep those lying around anymore.
Now, get organizing and start off 2018 a little more secure than you were!
