YCSI Blog

Strong passwords are a simple and vital security measure which many people overlook. Plenty of people create obvious and easy-to-crack passwords and use them across multiple websites. The rules of creating a strong password are simple and rather easy to follow.

• Always make your passwords longer than six characters
• Include a blend of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters
• Don’t use a name or any word in the dictionary
• Try using a phrase instead of a word
• Don’t use the same password on multiple sites

The last rule is by far the most important, as anybody who uses the same password on multiple sites makes all of their accounts vulnerable when one is hacked. Using a different password for each account you have gets rid of that inconvenience.

Different passwords for every account may be hard to keep track of but, of course, there’s an app for that! KeePass and Tiny Password are two excellent tools for keeping track of numerous passwords. Also, the trouble of keeping track of all those passwords is minimal compared to the trouble that comes with all of your accounts being hacked.

For more tips on creating and keeping track of strong passwords, check out this Lifehacker article.

Many banking institutions and e-commerce sites routinely warn users about phishing, yet the number of cases continues to grow. Phishing is a way to get an online user’s personal and financial information (often including online banking and email passwords) by using a time-tested approach to stealing things: tricking the victim into just handing them over. (more…)