World Password Day – MAY 3
World Password Day is an annual event that takes place worldwide on the first Thursday in May and serves to raise awareness for the importance of strong passwords and best practices for online account security.
Strong password security may seem rather obvious, but despite the rise in data breaches and well-known consequences of cyber-attacks, poor password habits are still relatively common.
A big part of the problem lies in the use of passwords. The vast majority of us either use weak passwords or reuse passwords on multiple accounts. This makes us more susceptible to cyber crimes such as identity theft.
It’s best practice to use a different password for all of your online accounts, but remembering them all can be nearly impossible – particularly if you want to use strong logins that are difficult to crack.
There is a simple solution – a password manager which is either free or costs as little as $2 per month depending on which options you choose.
A password manager will generate, retrieve, and keep track of super-long, crazy or random passwords across countless accounts for you, while also protecting all your vital online information, passwords, PINs, credit-card numbers and their three-digit CVV codes
The encryption process is so strong that it might take a hacker between decades and forever to crack. Your data is encrypted and decrypted at the device level and the contents of your so called vault is kept secret, even from LastPass.
To get all that security, you only need to remember a single password – the one you use to unlock your vault. Your login data will be locked down and, at the same time, remain secure but right at your fingertips.
There are several password managers available. The most popular is LastPass which offers a free user option as well as a paid one, and is available as a browser extension and an app for all platforms and mobile devices.
Once you’ve set up your master password, LastPass allows you to import all of your saved login credentials — usernames and passwords — from Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera, and Safari. It then helps you to delete all of the information from your computer to keep it secure, prompting you to do little more than remember your super-secure master password.
Multi-factor authentication
Strong authentication – sometimes called two-step verification, multi- or two-factor authentication, or login approval – provides an extra layer of security beyond your username and password.
This will add one extra step to your login process (scanning a fingerprint on your laptop, or typing a PIN that’s sent to your phone), but gives you powerful protection against cybercrimes and social media account hijacking.
Many of the world’s largest websites have made MFA readily available from the security settings of your online accounts, but it’s up to you to turn on this free feature.
Most email, social, and banking sites have options to enable MFA in the settings.
Think Technology Australia has the expertise to advise you on the most suited password and authentication practices and solutions for your business. Speak to one of our team today on 1300 920 866
