Golden Law on Internet Security: Update Your Passwords

Golden Law on Internet Security: Update Your Passwords

In today’s technology-powered world, everything from our addresses, social networking sites to our Internet banking information is covered by opaque code-based barriers, open to us with a string of characters, also known as passwords.

When technology continues to make our lives easier (and worse), it has become evident that our knowledge will and will be processed digitally. 

Ah, why not? You get quick access to it everywhere you go, wherever you are, and let’s not ignore the ease of not having to line up to settle the banking and official problems (that the energy bill isn’t going to pay for itself).

Shopping can also be done online these days. You can also buy everything from trendy pieces to fast food, luxurious items to regular grocery stores on the Internet.

We know how to use these resources and services, but do we really know how to keep our online accounts and information secure? 

If you privately replied yes to that, you’re lucky. Please skip to ‘Test Your Password Power’ to try your password. See if it’s truly sturdy enough to survive hacks.

Hacking and Password 

First of all, let’s make something clear: there’s a distinction between having your Facebook account logged in and getting your account compromised. There are skills involved when it comes to hacking (and sometimes it’s just plain, clever, and brutal guesswork).

Now, you actually already know from movies and pop media that people who hack are called hackers. What you do not know is that they may come in a variety of ways – suggested by the color of the hats, identified by their purpose. Here is a short round-up: 

  • ‘White hat’ hackers: Security experts
  • ‘Black hat’ hackers: computer criminals
  • ‘Grey hat’ hackers: undecided
  • Script kiddie: A hacker in progress

Site-Wide violation 

Recently, two violations of online security have occurred, which has inspired the writing of this issue. One hacker hacked into 6.5 million LinkedIn accounts in June 2012 and received their emails and passwords and listed half of them online. 

Here’s a quick7 chart of the top 30 LinkedIn passwords broken by the hacker, which were then added to the Russian hacker website. Can you see some of the codes you’re using right now? You really ought to change your password if you do.

The second incident of interest was a leak of the Dropbox password, in which users used the same username and passwords for their Dropbox account as they had for other third-party accounts they own. It’s like you have the same key for all the doors in your building. Open one, and you can open both of them. Why try it by making your fort too easy to break in?

Develop a secure password 

So passwords are important, but do you know what makes a good password? The common opinion that is accessible anywhere on the Net, and I mean everywhere, is that it should NOT be available. 

  • Contain terms that can be used in the dictionary; 
  • Be it in sequence or in recurring characters. 
  • Contain information about your identity, date of birth, social security, visa, driver’s license or other identification card. The same refers to the specifics of your immediate family members.

It’s best to use a complicated, varied and long-lasting password to protect your accounts. The password should have at least 8 characters and be a mixture of numbers, symbols and letters in both the lower and upper cases. Change your passwords on a daily basis to keep them effective.

Check for the strength of your password 

Not sure you ought to change your password(s)? Here are three places that can help you verify the reliability of your passwords. 

How Safe Is My Password 

This site will inform you how long it takes to break your password using the processing capacity of a regular desktop PC. The longer the time shown, the better your password will be. Test it out with ‘123456.’

The Password Meter

Another password strength checker that tells you where the password would stand for instant visual feedback. Only for the love of it, consider creating a password that’s going to give you the BEST reading as you see below. A long password does not automatically guarantee that you have the best reading.

Picture source: The Password Meter

Microsoft Password Strength Checker 

Duration factors for this password security checker, unlike the previous website. The platform also includes some information about how to create good passwords.

Wrap up 

I’m not an expert at designing and handling passwords, in fact, I get locked out a lot of stuff that can be a hassle. But why do you have all the difficulty because there are a lot of apps found online that can help us handle these invaluable passwords? Some software can also create, maintain, and store passwords for you. But tools are just tools, they will need someone to find them and use them. 

But before you become a hack victim or losing hold of your personal online accounts, do some spring cleaning and update the keys to your gates. You never know which of your accounts could be the next hacker exercise target.

Source: Hongkiat

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About Skyhigh.Vip

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Several of its popular portfolio includes GO Chambers which is the world’s largest business chamber listing providers with over 30,000 active chambers as its members.

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