The first line of defense against any unauthorized access to your information, your accounts or your computer is a password. Always make sure that the password you use must be a strong one. So what does a strong password mean? Lets see.
These are some of the factors which all of us must consider while selecting a password :
Simple vs Complex Password:
Accounts with simple passwords get easily compromised, so always use a complex password for any of your account. So How will you make a password complex? Its easy! use a combination of letters and numbers. Its a good practice to use special symbols in you password. Also passwords with more than 8 characters are not easy to crack.
Never ever use common words like from dictionary, or Names or Phone Numbers, but a combination of these will be a very useful strong password and it will also be very easy to remember.
Never ever use common words like from dictionary, or Names or Phone Numbers, but a combination of these will be a very useful strong password and it will also be very easy to remember.
Same for all website vs Unique:
Always use different passwords for different website you use. Never ever use the same password for all your accounts because if someone gets access to any one of your account all other accounts also get compromised.
Specially for online banking and other confidential information, use unique passwords to make your accounts more secure.
Specially for online banking and other confidential information, use unique passwords to make your accounts more secure.
Password manager:
Some of you might say how can we remember all the passwords if they all are different and complex. The answer is easy use a password manager.
A password manager helps you store all your complex password in one place and then you just need to remember only one password i.e use to open the password manager. That's it no need to remember complex and long password.
Also beaware of fake programs which act as password manager and send your data to other people in the background.
A password manager helps you store all your complex password in one place and then you just need to remember only one password i.e use to open the password manager. That's it no need to remember complex and long password.
Also beaware of fake programs which act as password manager and send your data to other people in the background.
Storing Information:
All of us store important data file on our computer, some of the files contain very confidential data such as bank account information or social security information or tax information. If you laptop or mobile gets stolen then all your data will be available for open access to anyone who has your device.
You can add a password to your confidential folders and file using any locking software available on the net.
Encrypting data on the computer also helps in protecting your information in case of lost/stolen laptop or other device. True Crypt is one of the free and open source software which help us in encrypting data on our system. In one of the further articles I will discuss how to use True Crypt and its benefits.
Hard Security questions:
Security questions are a big reasons why peoples password are compromised. Easy security question like date of birth, anyone name, etc are a reason for this. Many people have a lot of information about you with them, like from web search, social networking sites etc.
So always use questions which only you know and there is very less possibility that anyone else knows it.
So always use questions which only you know and there is very less possibility that anyone else knows it.
Changing Default password:
The default password is the first password entered by anyone who is trying to get access to your account. Most people don't bother to change the default password of their account which is provided at the time of signup. So it advised that you change the default password as soon as you sign up to any account.
Updating frequently:
It is a good habit that you change password on regular intervals. Because even if someone gets access to your account, there is a good possibility that you will change the password before any damage is done to your account or information.
And don't use a password you have previously.
Saved info in System:
Frequently delete cookies, history and cache stored in your system because many time due to slow internet connection some fragment of data is remained in the files which can be use for getting unauthorized access to your account.
I will be updating more on strong password on this blog, subscribe to our blog feed or download our android app to stay updated.
I will be updating more on strong password on this blog, subscribe to our blog feed or download our android app to stay updated.
In the next article I will discuss the precautions which we need to take care while banking online.
- Shantanu
