Create strong passwords. Never use family names, pets, birthdays, “12345” or “password”. Many websites and apps will prompt you to include a combination of numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters, and symbols and this is for good reason. The harder your password is to guess, the harder it is to crack. Use unique passwords for each of your accounts. Today’s hackers are smart, if one of your passwords is hacked, there is a high chance the hacker will try and hack all of your accounts. Use different passwords to ensure your critical information across email, social media and banking apps is protected. “Forgot password” problems. Relying on ‘forgot your password’ link as a fallback option within a webmail service or other site isn’t a wise move. The answers to the questions asked to unlock your account are often easily found on social media profiles of yourself or your friends or family, making the code easy to crack for hackers. Use a password manager. All of the above is great, but how are you supposed to remember 20 or more unique passwords? The answer is simple: a password manager. A password manager will help you to create complex and strong passwords and auto-saves them so you don’t have to remember each and every one. Double up on protection. Advances in biometric technology such as fingerprint scanning and face and voice recognition are helping to improve security. Using a password in conjunction with at least one other authentication technique will help to protect your devices and data.
