There are passwords for everything—your bank account, social media platforms, even your smart home devices. Basically, these provide secure access to everything. Unfortunately, if they fall into the wrong hands, those individuals also have access to everything, too. That’s why good password hygiene is critical for security and protection.
Cybernews found that the largest data breach in history involved 16 billion exposed login credentials scattered across 30 different databases. Because of these passwords being leaked, cyber criminals had access to personal credentials and could use them for their own gain, whether through account takeovers, identity theft, or targeted phishing attacks. This statistic highlights just how critical it is to keep your digital credential practices up to snuff with the latest tips and tricks to avoid unauthorized access.
Need to know how to make your digital life more secure? We’ve got you covered with best practices to do just that.
Password hygiene refers to best practices for creating, using, and managing passwords to keep your accounts and data secure. Good password hygiene helps protect against unauthorized access, data breaches, and identity theft.
As hackers continue to develop new techniques to exploit digital identities, it’s beneficial to consistently adjust your password practices to keep up, making cyber hygiene a long-term strategy rather than a set-it-and-forget-it action.
On top of protecting your personal accounts, these best practices are an important part of improving organizational health and digital security for team members and companies as a whole. Even just one small slip-up can cause a massive credentials headache for an entire organization. When everyone plays their part, protection grows.
The first step toward keeping personal information safe is ensuring a culture of strong password hygiene for yourself and your organization. Here’s how you can be better protected from cyber criminals:
Passwords like 1234 and ILoveFood are all too easy to predict. A good password requires a few different elements. First, make it long—at least 16 characters. Rather than using a personal detail or numbers that people could guess, the passcode should be a random mix of numbers, symbols, and both uppercase and lowercase letters.
Once you’ve created a great passcode for one account, don’t reuse it for any others. This is often what enables hackers to gain access to more than one account. So, make it easier to stave off unauthorized access by utilizing unique key phrases.
While you can conduct password management for various accounts on your own, it pays to have an extra layer of security through consideration of a purchased password manager. This tool allows you to store multiple passwords safely in a password vault. That way, you don’t have to remember each and every code, avoiding the frustrating experience of typing in tons of passwords until you get it right.
Multi-factor authentication is a method that requires you to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to your accounts. Rather than simply typing in your username and password, this process increases protection by making it more difficult for someone to gain entry. Common types of multi-factor authentication include SMS codes, authenticator apps, hardware tokens, and biometric scans.
If your company or personal accounts have experienced either a successful or attempted breach, you must change your passwords. If you don’t, the hacker could simply retry or continue using the leaked login credentials. When you create a new complex password, ensure it’s nothing similar to the previous login information, so the hacker can’t guess it.
While you might have people in your life that you trust or coworkers that are extremely reliable, it’s never a good idea to share your passcodes. If you give someone access to this information, you have no control over how they’ll use your passwords—and there isn’t anything you can do to prevent their actions if they choose to misuse your shared details.
It’s pretty common to write your passwords on a sticky note near your work computer or leave login credentials in the notes section of your phone. However, these areas can easily be accessed by passersby or anyone who clicks on the application. Try to avoid writing passwords down where people can see them. This way, you can control the amount of exposure your codes have.
Is a single word enough to keep cyber criminals away from your sensitive information? Think again. Using a longer password instead of a single-word code enhances security due to its length and unpredictability. For example, rather than simply using “Books77” as your account login, take a longer approach: “green Books three GeeSe!”
You might think you’re sneaky by substituting the letter O for zeros or the letter L for the number one. However, these are popular options that hackers often try out, resulting in a weak password. Instead, use a random collection or unpredictable phrases that cyber criminals won’t see coming.
Systematically reviewing your password security can help identify any weaknesses or compromised credentials in your network. Instead of waiting for an incident to occur, proactively ensure that your network of passphrases can stand up against a variety of different cyber attacks. You can do this manually, or a software scanning tool can do the checking for you.
Password recovery questions are a useful way to block hackers from accessing your personal data. When creating security questions, make sure you choose uncommon options and don’t input any information that could be assumed. Utilizing complex recovery questions can lower your chances of them being hacked.
Yes, autofill passcodes save you a bit of time. But they can give anyone using the same browser instant access to your personal accounts without having to type in the correct login information, making them dangerous. It’s best to use a password manager to help you easily input your secure password without giving anyone else unauthorized access.
If using a public device and logging into any personal account, always be sure to log out when you’re finished. Even if you feel exiting out of the application and shutting down the computer will keep your information safe, it often leaves your accounts logged in when the next person uses it.
Unsecured public Wi-Fi can open up your account to anyone who’s controlling the connection. It’s best to avoid Wi-Fi networks that lack a password and encryption, as they make your devices vulnerable to security risks.
Protecting yourself starts by recognizing how important cybersecurity is and following best practices. The next step is finding a financial institution that wants that same level of security for your money and personal information—one that will go above and beyond to deliver it. That’s what Cathay Bank does for our clients.
We treat your information as if it were our own, putting all the necessary precautions in place to safeguard your money and personal information for years to come. Connect with our team to open a secure account today.
This article does not constitute legal, accounting or other professional advice. Although the information contained herein is intended to be accurate, Cathay Bank does not assume liability for loss or damage due to reliance on such information.
