Tips For Keeping Your Passwords Secure

Written on the 7 February 2010

Several large companies have recently been hacked due to lax security when it comes to passwords - Google, Adobe and many more.  To ensure this doesn't happen to your business, our team have put together some tips for creating strong passwords and keeping them safe:

Do...

• Use numbers and symbols - you can boost the security of your passwords by adding numbers and symbols to it, for example joebloggs12* is more secure than just joebloggs
• Set good security questions in case you forget - a security question is a great backup but you need to find the balance between something easy to guess and something you can easily remember
• Change your password when team members leave - when any team member leaves your company, immediately change the passwords for anything they had access to, just to be on the safe side
• Change your passwords regularly - it's a good idea to change your passswords every six months to make it harder for hackers to guess

Don't...

• Don't use the same passwords across multiple programs/systems - we know it's hard to remember multiple passwords but using the same one for multiple things puts you in danger of being hacked so try to vary them
• Don't use passwords that are easy to guess - don't use your birthdate or your phone number or your children/pet's names, as these are the first things any good hacker will try
• Don't write your passwords down - storing your passwords is asking for trouble, especially on your computer where a hacker can easily find them, so avoid writing them down

We hope these tips help.  Remembering passwords is definitely annoying but they are extremely important so don't underestimate the importance of protecting them in your business and even your personal life.