Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don’t let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.
—-Clifford Stoll
In December 2013, TIME reported an attack in which criminals took some two million usernames and passwords from over 90,000 websites – including some of the most popular in the world, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Outlook and etc.
Secure passwords are your first line of defence against cybercrime. Choosing weak passwords that can be guessed easily or worse still – using the same password for all your online accounts can be a costly mistake to make.
Password Do’s and ‘Don’ts
Do
- Use a difference password for each of your account
- Select a phrase or group of words that means something to you
- Combine capital letters, numbers and special characters
- Change your password once every three months or so — as like a Toothbrush!
Don’ts
- Use the same password for all of your accounts
- Settle for a short password or keep it simple
- Make up passwords from sequences
- Share your password with others.
- Choose dictionary words in any language to create a password
- Use your name, Social Security number or any other personal information that could identify you
