3 Password Safety Practices to Adopt Right Now

Keeping your information safe in today’s age is truly crucial, and sometimes it can feel like we’re not doing enough to ensure that it’s happening on our end. As we’ve learned through the media (and perhaps, personal experience), hackers are savvy and crafty, making it a prevalent worry that personal information, such as social security numbers or credit card information, will be widely shared.

There are certain practices when it comes to creating passwords that should be followed to negate these worries. Tech security starts with strong passwords, and yours may not be as rock solid as you think. Keep reading to learn all of the most important items that you should be checking off your list every time you create a password.

Read More: Things You Need to Do If You Suspect a Credit Card Hack

1. Give Them Length

While it is commonly thought that complex passwords are stronger than longer passwords, experts claim that’s not always the case. They actually cite that long passwords consisting of 12 to 15 characters are the strongest, even if they aren’t terribly complex or random. We know it’s tempting to make your password short and sweet, but give it some extra length for the security you need in order to have peace of mind.

2. Make Them Unpredictable

You’ll want to set your password as something unique to avoid hackers penetrating your accounts. That means that you should avoid predictable patterns, even if that gives your password more length, as mentioned above. The more sporadic the characters are, the harder it would be for predators to crack the code. You’ll also want to use passwords that are uncommon. For instance, pop culture terms and sports phrases are popular passwords, so those should be avoided.

3. Don’t Reuse Passwords

It’s extremely tempting to use the same password for multiple accounts. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a practice that should be utilized, as it puts you at an increased risk of being hacked. Since many people do use the same passwords (or similar ones across the board), it’s an easy way for hackers to gather an abundance of information on you if they successfully break through to one account. Thus, you should always use completely unique passwords to keep your accounts as safe as possible.

After reading this, you may feel as though it’s a lot of work to keep your accounts secure. While this thought is correct, keep in mind that it’s definitely worth the effort to ensure that your sensitive information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Keep your passwords unique, long, and unpredictable.