The Do’s and Dont’s of Strong Passwords

business computer services-passwordsAs more of our day-to-day lives becomes web-connected, the number of passwords we need to keep track of increases at a dizzying rate. Remembering passwords can be difficult, but it's a necessary evil. Passwords are the first line of defense for keeping hackers and snoops from accessing your sensitive data. A lot of business computer services are related to setting up secure methods for keeping internal information safe from prying eyes, and making chores like online banking safer. Creating strong passwords to safeguard your accounts is more important than ever.

Creating a password is easy. Creating a good, strong password is a little more difficult. It takes a bit of forethought to create a password that is easy to remember, yet strong enough to withstand hackers. So what does it take to create a good, strong password? Here are some do's and don'ts you can use to create your next password:

DO: Make the Password Longer

Most accounts for business computer services require passwords that are at least six characters in length. Most computer repair experts recommend using longer passwords to increase security. A longer password will take a hacker much more time to break than a smaller password.

DON'T: Use Common Names, Places, or Words

Hackers use a method called dictionary attacks. This method uses lists of thousands of common words, names, and places, called dictionaries, to try to break into an account. They use combinations of words from these dictionaries to guess your password. Using common words, places, or names is an open invitation to hack your accounts, and  is never recommended by computer business services.

DO: Mix It Up.

You can use variations on capitalization, spelling, numbers, and punctuation to make it more difficult to crack your password. For instance, substituting '$' for 's', '@' for 'a', or '1' for 'l' will help make your password much more difficult to crack.

DON'T: Use Common Passwords

One of the most common password mistakes is using a simple, easy-to-guess password. Using a password like '12345', 'abcdefg', or 'password' is a surefire way to ensure hackers break into the accounts of your business computer services quickly.

DO: Use Keyboard Patterns Instead of Words

If you have difficulty remembering passwords by name, try this tip from our staff at our computer repair shop. Instead of using words, you can use keyboard patterns as your password. For example, by taking the letters P, C, and F, and using the keys to the left and right of those letters, you create a strong password of 'Po[CxvFdg'. It looks like a random jumble of letters but is easy to remember the pattern you used to create it.

DON'T: Use the Same Password Everywhere

If a hacker does manage to find one of your passwords from the account of one of your business computer services, they will try to use it on all your other accounts. If you use the same password for several accounts, this will increase the amount of damage a hacker can do. This is why it is important to create a different password for each site you visit. This is especially true for critical online accounts, such as a bank or other financial account. These are accounts that hackers will try first if they find a password they can use.

DO: Check Your Password

You can check the strength of your password through many various sites.  Two good sites to try are the password meter or Kaspersky password check. That way, you'll have a good idea how secure your password is before you use it. You can also see how you can make your password stronger by adding were changing characters in the password.

DO: Use a Password Manager To Store Passwords

To manage and track passwords from the accounts of different business computer services, you can store them with a password manager. There are many free options available that you can use for your PC, Mac, laptop, or phone.  Two of these are KeePass or LastPass. Many of these apps are also portable, meaning you can store your passwords on a flash drive or in your phone for easy use. That way, you will always have them nearby when you need access to the accounts of your business computer services.

DO: Change It Up

Computer and laptop repair specialists agree that you should keep hackers guessing by changing your passwords every so often. The change doesn't have to be large to work. Simply changing the capitalization or substituting a different character for a letter is good enough to make the password different.

Business Computer Services Love Strong Passwords

With these tips, you can see how easy it is to create a good password that is both easy to remember and strong. Having good, strong passwords for your accounts that are easy to remember is a good way to ensure your sensitive data is within easy reach for you, but hard to break by hackers.

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