World Password Day: Tips to Protect Your Privacy and Data

Every first Thursday in May we celebrate the most sacred of holidays: World Password Day. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it! Well, if you haven’t, today is the day when we all remember to change our passwords, try to remember our passwords, and just generally be aware of their existence and importance. So, in honor of the day, here are best practices from cybersecurity experts all around the globe.

Change Your Password Every Three Months

I know this means you’re more likely to forget it, but it’s really the safest thing to do. It reduces your risk of exposure. 80% of all cyberattacks involve a weak or stolen password (12345 and ‘password’ are still the most commonly used passwords!), so changing every three months means it’s less likely to be exposed or found. You may even have to do it more often if you’re the victim of a cyberattack.

Password Trackers

We all know we’re not supposed to write our passwords down, but if we don’t write them down, we forget them. So, what’s the best way to keep track of your passwords? Password keeper apps! They range from free to ones you have to pay for and can keep track of all of your passwords – you just have to remember the one password to the app.

You could also make your password a phrase, so Happy Birthday could become H@PPyBirthD@y$0$.

Other Best Practices for Safeguarding Your Password

• Make sure you use security questions only you can answer. This means avoiding questions that someone can find online, like your zip code, mother’s maiden name, or your birthplace. It also applies to things that someone could easily guess because there’s a limited number of responses, like the color of your first car.
• It’s also a really good idea to have different questions on different websites. So, if one gets guessed at one place, it won’t apply to another website.
• Using multi-factor identification also goes a long way to protecting yourself. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes, but it also means that even if your password is guessed, they’ll still need the verification to get into your account.

And there you have it, all the best ways to celebrate World Password Day! Want to know more? Try these resources below!

Cybersecurity for Small Networks

Passwords

Protecting Yourself in Cyberspace