As cyber threats evolve, password management best practices become ever more critical in protecting against security breaches. Utilize these guidelines in your business to help ensure strong password creation, transmission and storage. Passwords should be regularly changed in order to thwart attackers from guessing their password, yet changing too frequently could desensitize users and lead to bad habits such as reusing passwords.
1. Use a Password Manager
One effective way to strengthen password security is with the aid of a password manager. These software programs store all of your passwords safely within an encrypted vault that you can easily access from any internet-enabled device. Password managers can generate strong passwords and autofill them into login fields. Furthermore, they can generate unique passwords for every account in a safe storage vault. When selecting a password manager, look for one that supports multiple devices and operating systems—this way you can use it on your laptop, desktop computer and phone, as well as major web browsers.
2. Change Your Passwords Regularly
Numerous cybersecurity experts once advised changing passwords every 30, 60 or 90 days; however, that practice no longer seems wise as frequent password changes could actually lead to weaker ones over time. People tend to choose simple password patterns, such as using their birthday/family name/song lyrics/dictionary word as their password, making bruteforce attacks by hackers much simpler. People tend to use the same password across all their accounts, which makes it easier for hackers to gain entry. Instead, when your passwords become outdated or when there’s any indication your account may have been breached, make sure they are promptly changed immediately.
3. Create Unique Passwords for Each Account
As it’s essential that if one of your accounts becomes compromised, hackers cannot use its credentials to gain entry to other accounts, passwords should be chosen randomly and contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, as well as personal data such as names or birthdays if possible and avoid common substitutions like replacing letters with symbols. Length is also key, with longer passwords generally being stronger than shorter ones and making it more difficult for hackers to guess them. A strong password should serve as your first line of defense against cybercriminals.
4. Create a Strong Password
Strength of password is of vital importance when it comes to protecting online accounts. Hackers often employ brute force attacks in an attempt to guess or break common passwords that give them access to personal and professional data stored online. A strong password should include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols from across a range of upper and lowercase fonts, including upper and lowercase letters as well as numbers. Furthermore, any sensitive or easily discernible data such as dates of birth or names should be avoided to create something strong enough. Create an easily recallable and secure passphrase with the help of a password manager, which generates and stores complex passwords securely.
5. Keep Your Passwords Secure
Implementing best practices like using a password manager and regularly changing passwords and not sharing them can significantly enhance your password hygiene and help individuals and businesses reduce the risk of cyberattacks. Passwords that are too short or lack complexity are easily broken by hackers using automated tools or brute force attacks that systematically try all possible combinations. Length matters too, as longer passwords provide more characters that make deciphering them harder. Passwords that are unique to each account help prevent attackers from targeting multiple accounts if one account is compromised, such as when hackers reuse stolen passwords in “credential stuffing” attacks.
6. Keep Your Passwords in a Safe Place
Education of employees on password management practices is one of the key ways an organization can ensure its networks remain safe from cyber attacks. Passwords provide entryway into digital data, business records and identities, thus contributing immensely to an organization’s overall security posture. As part of effective password security practices, it’s vital that we create strong and unique passwords with no personal details included, changing them regularly, avoiding repeat usage on different accounts, and keeping our passwords stored safely, such as using a password manager so hackers cannot gain access to our secrets.
7. Don’t Share Your Passwords
Sharing passwords is never recommended, especially with strangers. Cybercriminals are adept at stealing, guessing and hacking passwords to gain entry to accounts more easily once an attacker obtains the key to do so. Even when sharing passwords with someone trusted, there’s no telling how they might use them, and this could result in a breach that puts all your accounts at risk. Implement and enforce strong password requirements and enable multifactor authentication (MFA); this can help prevent breaches from the beginning.
8. Don’t Save Your Passwords in a Browser
Keep your passwords out of your browser to reduce security risk. Not only does this make it easier for hackers to access your systems and data, but it also creates an opportunity for brute force attacks, also known as “password spraying,” where attackers attempt various combinations of commonly used words in an attempt at a brute force attack. Browsers were not designed for password management; therefore, they lack the security and productivity features of dedicated password managers. Furthermore, using Safari or Firefox as your password manager—with no default locking option available to save credentials—allows threat actors easy access to retrieve any saved credentials you’ve saved therein.
9. Don’t Use the Same Password for Every Account
Each day, most people access multiple online accounts—for TikTok, Facebook, eBay and banking purposes—which requires remembering a unique, strong password or passphrase for each of them. Unfortunately, this process can become cumbersome and frustrating quickly. However, even one compromised password on any account can be used to gain entry to other accounts, leaving your personal information exposed and increasing the likelihood of identity theft, bank account fraud or financial loss. Hungerford Technologies cybersecurity experts suggest following password management best practices to secure both business and personal accounts against cyber attacks. It only takes a few easy steps to avoid security breaches!
