The do’s and don’ts of digital passwords

Cyber security is now at the forefront of our minds. While news stories about data breaches, leaks and cyber hackers continue to make headlines, more and more companies and social media platforms are asking for our personal information and storing it online. From internet banking and managing your superfund, to shopping online, booking flights and submitting official documents, we are increasingly leaving a longer digital trail of our personal, banking and health records online, and the only thing standing between them and people who would use that information for nefarious purposes, is usually a password.

Everybody knows how difficult it is to create and manage multiple passwords, especially if you’re one of those people who taking pride in creating incredibly difficult combinations of numbers, letters and symbols to protect your accounts. However, it’s incredibly important that you don’t use simple passwords, or reuse the same password across multiple platforms and services.

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Don’t:

Use an easily guessable and common password

Use personal information or repeated characters in passwords

Have a single word as a password

Use the same password for multiple accounts

Give out your passwords

List your passwords in your computer or mobile phone, or in a document called ‘passwords’

Do:

Create strong passwords by using a long combination of letters, numbers and symbols

Use a password manager

Use two-factor authentication on all platfoms and services that provide it, such as Facebook, Google and banking apps

Regularly change your passwords

These are some of the most common passwords:

123456

123456789

qwerty

password

111111

abc123

password1

123123

000000

1q2w3e4r5t

dragon

homelesspa

monkey

qwertyuiop

Check if your password has been exposed by running it through Have I Been Pwned

According to PC Magazine, these are the best free password managers of 2018.

LastPass
LogMeOnce Password Management Suite
Myki password Manager & Authenticator
1U Password Manager
Enpass Password Manager 5
KeePass 2.34
oneID
Symantec Norton Identity Safe

You might also like:

The latest internet scam you need to know about

What you need to know about My health Record

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Laura Barry

Laura Barry is a writer, bookworm and interior design enthusiast with a love for reporting on all things homes and lifestyle. When not tapping away at her keyboard, Laura can be found making endless cups of tea or perusing the shelves of Sydney’s many bookstores.