The issue of safety password is always very topical, but unfortunately many users continue to fall for a whole series of bad habits more or less dangerous.
To fight these habits you must first learn to create a secure passwordi.e. difficult to detect using external software.
Added to this are the skills related to management and thecredential storage. With the possibility of using the technological facilities guaranteed by the so-called password manager.
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1. How to create a secure password
A first macro-category of bad habits related to the world of passwords has to do with the password phase creation. In fact, many users end up choosing passwords that are all too predictableputting their systems at potential risk.
For example, many people are used to inserting personal informations within passwords: starting from name or from surnameuntil we get to date of birth. Without forgetting the addresses of home or workplace, or those who bring it up parents, children or animals domestic.
This is a bad habit that should be eradicated as soon as possible. Also because i software think about it to crack passwords they start precisely from this: from keyword extrapolated from public credentials of the user under attack.
In principle passwords should consist of sequences of alphanumeric characters not directly attributable to meaningful terms or numbers. And in any case they should never put it off information directly related to the user.
Another one bad habit related to password security has to do with the so-called keyboard walking (walks on the keyboard): those password so easy to type to be dangerous.
Think in this sense of the famous one password “123456”: a real wedding invitation for the hacker, which however is chosen daily by millions of users all over the world. The same goes for the password “000000” or for the password “qwerty”.
The advice in this sense is to prefer the password sicure to what easy to type. Create combinations of letters, numbers and special characters, avoiding key sequences that are too close together.
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2. Password management tips
After having given some useful advice for creating a more secure password, it is possible to move on to another macro-category of bad habits Of IT security: those related to password management.
The advice in this sense is to: diversify your passwords, so as to significantly lower the risk threshold. Many people use the same pair of credentials to access even very different services: come on social network to home banking, from email of work on on-demand platforms.
As a result, if these credentials are compromised, you are left with a real one paved the way for hackers. That’s why it would be good associate a single password with a single service.
Additionally the individual passwords above would go updated and modified with a constant cadence. Keeping the same passwords unchanged for months, if not even years, significantly increases the risk of them being compromised.
The common sense advice is to establish a cadence after which you update all your passwords. By adding some further extraordinary changes in the event that any account is hacked.
The multiplication of passwords and their updating call into question another type of potential problem: that ofarchiving.
In this case the bad habit to forget as soon as possible is the maintenance of password lists within digital files: from the sheets of Word to those of Excel. The classic documents that can be accessed in case of attack by a hacker.
For this reason many users prefer to use theoffline annotationusing the dear, old ones paper and pen. But alternatively it is also possible to use more technologically advanced solutions.
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3. More tips for increasing password security
In the previous paragraphs we talked about the difficulty of store your passwords securely. Mentioning recent technologies that can solve the problem.
The reference is to the so-called password manager: software that solves the vast majority of password-related problems. Starting with theirs creationuntil we get to theirs archiving.
Password managers come with a generation functionwhich creates a secure password: an alphanumeric sequence that is sufficiently complex that it cannot be easily identified. Added to this are the management featureswhich keep track of the passwords generated without leaving out the IT security.
Remaining on the topic of technologies related to passwords and security, it is impossible not to mention the so-called 2FAor thetwo-factor authenticationa technology that adds layers of defense to the simple insertion of credentials.
For example authentication via dedicated app or the one that involves sending a OTP code. The different security levels protect the user in case of loss or breach of credentials. With 2FA, in fact, it’s simple password it is no longer enough to access a service or website.
Finally, they also deserve a mention passkeywhich many consider to be a kind of evolution of traditional passwords. Passkeys take advantage of the biometric recognition of the user to authenticate your access to a platform or service.
They therefore use the scanning of the facethe recognition of voce or the detection ofFingerprint of the user. Personal information that can neither be replicated nor forgotten.
To know more: Computer security: guide to safe browsing on the web