A password is a combination of alphanumeric and special characters, which can be difficult to remember sometimes, and that’s why some of you might end up using the same character set as a password for multiple sites and accounts.
Many of you may know it already, and insecure passwords can put you at risk of leaking your information, which is a significant matter of concern. Whenever a company server, like XYZ company, is attacked by hackers, they try to exploit passwords that are a combination of the user’s date of birth, username, email address, or any information that can be easily fetched.
This ruckus can be easily avoided if you create a unique and strong password, which can be remembered or saved in a secure password manager. That being said, let’s quickly discuss the importance of having a strong & unique password.
Why are Strong Passwords important?
It is very likely that strong and unique passwords are the reason you waste time resetting passwords because it is tough to remember a combination of a capital letter and special characters for every website or application; that’s why a majority of people tend to use the same password for all platforms, which makes it easy to crack.
One data breach, and it’s all gone
Data breaches frequently happen because technology is taking its space in every sector; hackers are actively working to take down the servers and get hold of the customers’ data, which can then be sold on the dark web.
Recently, Twitter suffered a data breach that contained users’ passwords and other sensitive information like phone numbers. Hence, this clarifies that a password is a combination of your username, phone number, and any information publicly displayed on the web.
Your close one can guess it.
This might not be a big issue, but if you have a notorious friend who wants to access your Instagram or Facebook account, they can easily guess the combination and get hold of your account.
This is a serious offense to someone’s privacy, and to be on the safer side, it is strongly recommended to enable 2FA and create a unique password. By default, Google Android and Google chrome can suggest you a strong combination of characters that can be saved in your Google account, and you can quickly log in with the help of that, and at the same time, keep your passwords unique and secure.
Things You Should Do For Creating A Strong Password
Creating a strong password for social media accounts and other platforms is necessary, and it is also necessary to keep them unique simultaneously. It is strongly recommended not to use the same combination of characters as a password for every platform because if any of it gets compromised, it becomes easier to crack down on the others as well.
Here’s a checklist for creating strong passwords:
- Include one or more than one capital letters
- Include at least two special characters
- Avoid using your name, phone number, email address, birthplace, or date of birth in your password.
- Avoid using your pet’s name, qwerty, 12345, and “password” type combinations.
- Prevent using SSN as a password.
An example of a strong password: hC6hx1#I9Ww=y.
Tip: Enable 2FA, use an authenticator app like Authy, and store your account recovery codes in a safe place.
How can someone get access to your strong passwords, and how to avoid it?
Even if your password is strong, it can get compromised because of your carelessness or the weak security of the platform where you signed up. Let’s get deep into it.
Phishing attacks
You must have read about this in school or college; phishing attacks are widespread and are mostly made via fake emails, where you are lured to click on a link that asks for your personal information to enlist in a competition to win an iPhone or a government grant.
Since the hacker already has your email address, all he needs is a bit more information about you to make it easier to crack passwords on other platforms using different combinations of your personal information.
Data breaches
Data breaches are not done for fun or as a college project. It is done to sell data on the dark web and make money out of it. Just in, Aussies health data is on sale for money, which is a matter of concern.
We get news of such data breaches daily nowadays, and creating a strong password is so important to deal with it. To avoid getting your data leaked, you can’t do much but prevent giving all the information to the platform. Suppose you are creating a profile on epic games; there’s no need to create an account with your primary mail that’s also linked to your social media and bank accounts.
Similarly, use 2FA and download security codes, print them, and store them somewhere safe. You can also check if your data is compromised on https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and change passwords if you find your data has been pwned.
Lastly…
There’s hardly anything you can do to avoid getting your data leaked in breaches, but you can do a lot to prevent accounts on other platforms from being compromised, and that’s why strong and unique passwords are essential.
We covered everything about this in detail and even brought several incidents to your notice, making you think twice before using a weak and same password on all platforms.
