By Maxwell Donovan, BestOnlineReviews.com
Passwords are essential. They are the only way that gives you a direct ticket to various sites any time you want to. However, only understanding and observing the basics of password protection is not enough for you to keep hackers away for good? Over just the basics protections such as two-factor authentication, password manager and of course ensuring that your password is secure from being easily guessed by hackers. These are valuable tips for protecting your online security. However, you still need to go an extra mile beyond the standard. Here are a few tips from experts to ensure your online security is not compromised.
Keep it weird
According to the CEO of SplashData, a company that deals with password management and evaluation of annual worst passwords, Morgan Slain. It’s not all about how your passwords are long, but rather how you twist it. People who use a long password of a simple pattern such as “111111111111” or “123456789” are likely to have their accounts hacked. Additionally, Slain advises that for your account to be secure you must ensure to avoid common terms as your password. Most hackers will always start with standard phrases while trying to access your account information. Therefore, when you are creating a password, thinking of soothing that only you can think off.
Never double dip
Even if your password is so important and unique, it’s only worth for a single account use. The more you use the same password on several accounts, the more unsafe it becomes. No matter how complicated your password is, when it gets cracked from one account, you are sure that all your other accounts will be at risk. It is therefore important to ensure you have separate passwords for different accounts for better security. Joe Siegrist recommends using a unique password for various sites for better password performance.
Think length
Mark Burnett, who is the author of “Perfect Password,” says, “The length of your password is better than a random password.” Generating a password that has about 12-15 characters is good. However, making a password that only has lower case letters is more beneficial than when you make a combination of alphanumeric gibberish. According to Burnett, it will only take you two extra characters to make up for symbols, upper case and numbers in a password even for the sites that require you to include such in your password. Therefore, instead of trying to complicate your password, you can spend that time to type two extra letters that you can remember or memorize quickly.
Avoid bunching your special characters
If you must use the recommended style of including numbers, symbols, lower case and upper case letters in your password, it’s okay. However, you don’t have to bunch them together. Ensure you spread your password evenly. Instead of using your digits and symbols at the end or beginning of your creation, consider covering them in between the password. Lorrie Faith Cranor says that, when you use special characters at the end of the beginning of your password, you get a little benefit from its use. Cranor says when you are generating your password, is important to ensure you look into all predictability aspects and avoid making it easy for a hacker to crack.
Don’t panic excessively
It’s important to be worried for you to ensure you protect your password with all your power. However, once you have made your password and review site, relax your account is safe. According to Herley, your bank will never allow over 100 billion guesses from an attacker neither will your web password withstand over a few thousands of theories. Therefore, once you have the right combination for your account, you don’t need to add additional protection measures. However, if you feel the necessity, you are still free to add for peace of mind.
With all the information about how to make your password unique and safe, you should also ensure you don’t share your passwords, and you don’t keep changing it from time to time. Lastly, you must make sure that you choose your characters well and you can memorize without having to write it down.