Tips

Quick Tips: Protecting/maintaining your Passwords safely

  • Complexity: Password complexity is one of the first things that everyone should think about. It is best to retain passwords that are at least 12 characters long, containing one CAPITAL, one number, and one symbol, and change them every 90 days.

  • Sharing: Individuals sometimes share their email or social media accounts passwords to their friends or family. This is a risky practice. When sharing the passwords with your friends or family the threat actors can perform man in the middle attacks to steal your passwords being shared.

  • Public Machines/Network: Individuals sometimes log in to their email or other social media accounts from public computers, such as Internet cafes, hotel lobbies, or airport terminals or public WI-FI networks. These machines could be compromised, or a hacker might be present on the WI-FI network, performing a man-in-the-middle attack or sniffing network traffic to obtain your passwords. As a result, you should avoid entering your accounts from public networks or computers.

  • Phishing: To steal users' credentials, threat actors frequently send malicious links to victims in the form of phishing emails for stealing passwords. So be wary of phishing links like this, and never give out your passwords on rogue websites.

  • Owned: Your password has been revealed in a third-party breach if your email account is owned. It is always a good idea to check your email account for any breaches as mentioned in the tools above and change the passwords linked with the account as soon as possible. This helps to protect your password against breaches or leaks.

  • Clear text/Non-Encrypted Passwords: Never Store your password as a clear text without encryption.

  • Multifactor Authentication: Whenever possible, use multi-factor authentication for your email or other social media accounts.

  • Unusual Login Activity: If you observe any strange activity relating to your login or any social media posts that have not been placed by you, try to reset your password right away.

  • Password Manager: You can use an electronic password manager, which is freely available on the Internet, as a safe alternative to writing down passwords. Read the terms of service, look at user reviews, and make sure the software is trustworthy before using it.

  • Don't save your passwords on your phone or web browser, if anyone else is using the same device and can see them.

  • On different systems and accounts, use different passwords. Preferably have a different account for shopping or site registrations than the account you use for personal or contains your sensitive documents or so.