How To Use a Password Manager
How you use a password manager varies slightly depending on which password manager you have. However, they all have similar functionality. To use a password manager, you first have to set your master password, set up...
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Eight Common Password Mistakes
Using weak passwords to protect your accounts is like leaving all of your doors unlocked. The mere fact that you have never been robbed does not indicate that you should disregard the security that locks provide.
Given how frequently you hear about password security, it’s simple to ignore the advice and continue making the same mistakes. But since bad passwords are such a widespread issue and expose you to many cybersecurity risks, it’s crucial to take them seriously.
Find out the common password mistakes that you may be making below.
Using the same password everywhere
The easiest way to remember a password is to use only one, but that’s also the fastest route to disaster and the number one password mistake. Once a successful phishing attack captures that password—and studies have found that as many as 97% of people can’t detect a phishing email—the attacker essentially has the keys to the kingdom. It is never okay to use the same password in multiple places – you should always use unique and strong passwords for each account.
Varying passwords with a single character
This is a password mistake many people make when asked to change their passwords – they comply by changing a “12” to a “13,” for example. Password-guessing programs are wise to this trick and can sniff it out in seconds.
A variation of this dangerous practice is to include a non-alphanumeric character by tacking “!” onto the end of your existing password. That’s the oldest trick in the book, and cybercriminals are wise to it. Non-alphanumeric characters should be used within the password, not at either end.
Using personal information in passwords
You put yourself at risk for password breaches if you utilize names of family members, famous people, sports teams, pets or any other widely used terms. Criminals employ software that searches for the most frequent combinations, such as Yoda123. And don’t believe that using private information like your pet’s name or even your high school mascot would keep you secure. Criminals can easily get the information you so innocently put on social networks.
Oh, and simply adding a string of numbers at the beginning or end of the password won’t increase its security.
Sharing passwords with others
You might have the strongest password in the world, but if you share it with someone who stores it in an email account protected by “qwerty,” it won’t make a bit of a difference. You should avoid sharing your passwords with others as much as possible.
However, if you must share passwords with third parties, use a password manager such as Keeper that allows for secure sharing on a time-limited basis.
Using passwords that are too short
The length of a password is one of its most crucial components. Every additional character, whether it be a letter, number or symbol, increases the number of potential combinations and increases the difficulty of deciphering your password.
Consider this: if someone had a one-character password and you had limitless chances to guess it, it would likely take you no more than a few minutes to test every key on your keyboard. If you make it a two-character password, the possible combinations go into the hundreds of thousands. Creating a strong password that is a good length is critical to protect yourself from cybercriminals that have technology that can guess thousands of passwords per minute.
Storing passwords in plain text
Some people believe that the best way to remember passwords is to store them in a spreadsheet, write them on a notepad or email them to themselves. Bad idea. Doing this puts your business at risk for a catastrophic security breach. Email and text messages can be intercepted by cybercriminals, while notepads and spreadsheets aren’t encrypted.
Using recognizable keystroke patterns
“1qaz2wsx” may seem like a pretty tough password to guess until you look at your keyboard and notice the pattern. A random series of letters and numbers must be truly random to have a chance.
Substituting numbers for letters
This used to be an effective technique, but “Spr1ngst33n” doesn’t survive a determined attack anymore. The software is on to that trick.
How to Fix Your Common Password Mistakes
Your best bet is to use a password manager protected by strong encryption. The best ones generate secure passwords for you and give you total protection with two-factor authentication.
A best-in-class password manager will allow you to correct all of the most common password mistakes. It will automatically prompt you to auto-generate and store a new, secure password every time you are creating a new account or updating an existing password. A password manager automatically creates a random password with a high character length and a combination of letters, numbers and symbols. And the best part? You’ll never have to remember the passwords, they are stored for you and will automatically populate when you go to log in.
Isn’t it time you start your free trial of Keeper’s Password Manager before it’s too late?
Updated on October 25th, 2022.
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