How To Make a Strong Password

Every single time you log into something, you need a strong password. We are increasingly moving toward a digital world and while this is a good thing, it does mean that we need to do all that we can to protect our data now more than ever. 

You only need to look at the news to see data breaches and stolen identities to know that your business is exposed to risk. When you look at your common passwords, what do they all have in common? Do you use the same ones for every single website? What about in your business? It’s vital that your IT team is there to help you with security for your business, and that includes your passwords. 

Too many business owners have a casual attitude towards the security of the passwords in their business, and they really shouldn’t. Twenty of the most common passwords out there contain unsecure words and forms, or businesses get their employees to use their names instead of a series of numbers and letters to protect data. The best thing to do is to work to create passwords that are a combination of upper and lower case characters, numbers and symbols.

How strong should your password be?

You need your business (and personal) passwords to be strong enough to be difficult to crack, and the security for your business is important enough to ensure you are on top of your passwords at all times. Security experts will tell you that the best thing that you can do is to make passwords complicated enough and change them regularly enough to keep them secure. So, here are some of the best tips that you need to make a strong password:

Make them longer

Most passwords should be a minimum of eight characters, and yet you could change this to twelve to make it harder to break into them. 

Branch out

You should look to branch out from numbers and letters to include any other symbols of your keyboard. By mixing it all together, you can create something completely unique that feels impossible to guess.

Never use common names/words

If you’re running a business, don’t use your business name or any employee names in your passwords. You want them to be unique and that means stepping away from full words.

Avoid common passwords

A surname plus a series of numbers is often used as a common password, but you should try to avoid this as much as possible. You want all of your passwords to be relevant, and avoiding common passwords is a must! 

Store them carefully

Never write passwords on sticky notes and stick to your monitor. You need to ensure that passwords remain private, and storage is important. 

Make it memorable

You want something complicated, but you need it to also be memorable. There’s no use in setting up passwords if you’re going to forget them. You need to make passwords as strong as possible, and this is one of the ways that you can do it.