Mila Joshua Yona
If you’re like many others around the globe, you may have up to 2 to 6 online accounts with passwords on different websites. In this article, I will share with you some tips that can help you in safeguarding your passwords from being hacked by hackers.
If you’re the type that uses a single password for all your online accounts, take it from me that it is VERY DANGEROUS because if a hacker gets into one of your accounts, he can easily get into all. It is even worse when you’re using WEAK PASSWORDS, it makes it easier for hackers to hack your passwords. Weak passwords have been the main cause of numerous cases of identity theft, malfunctioning of accounts, and other unpleasant occurrences.
You may want to argue with me that you have nothing to hide and don’t really care if someone breaks into your account but I want to let you know that the dangers sometimes is not what you have in the account but what the person who has unauthorized access to your account will do to or with your account.
So, how do you make a strong password?
In the 21St Century today, having a strong password is actually a must. However, the issue with strong passwords is that they can be really very difficult to remember if you forget. Altering the current password you use by adding a meaningful symbol is one step towards making them difficult for internet fraudsters to crack.
The things you can add or do to increase the strength of your passwords are highlighted below:
1. Guard your passwords from your friends
Don’t disclose your password to your friends no matter how close they are to you. Chances are they may be careless and disclose it to someone unknowingly.
2. Ensure you’re entering your password to a secure site
Be sure that you’re entering your password to a secure site. Check that the site you’re entering your password into is the original one otherwise you could just be putting your password to a phishing or bogey website and they will eventually steal the password.
3. Never Use Any Numbers, Words, Names Or Anything Connected To You.
A lot of people have actually often heard this warning but they just ignore it. It is still shocking that a few people still use their names, nicknames, names of a girlfriend/boyfriend, father/mother, or people close to them as passwords to their accounts. This is a very weak password and can be easily guessed by a hacker or people around you.
Other popular weak passwords include using your date of birth, matric/registration number of any kind in any school/institution, name of a best friend, name of wife or husband, and any other thing connected to you. All these passwords are fast guess any intelligent hacker will try on your account.
So as a rule of thumb, never use any of them as passwords.
4. Avoid Using Default Passwords
There are some websites that automatically generate passwords for you. Such passwords are known as DEFAULT PASSWORDS. These types of passwords are commonly generated for users who request for PASSWORD RESET after they might have forgotten their initial password.
As a rule of thumb, once such a password is generated for you, TRY AND CHANGE THE PASSWORD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. This sounds obvious but many people continue to use these assigned passwords. There exists many reasons why this isn’t safe at all; am sure you can guess some of them.
5. Take Care When Writing Your Password Down Somewhere
If you have multiple passwords, then I guess it’s better to have them written down in a secure place. [For example, if you don’t write your new Gmail password down and you forget it, then the whole time you spent creating your unbreakable password has been wasted and you will never be able to login to your Gmail account ever again.]
While writing down your password, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. It is indeed shocking to see people write their full email address in their address book or diary and also write passwords beside it. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS PRACTICE. Anyone that somehow gets a hold of such an address book or diary might easily hack your account.
If you decide to write down your password, you can just shorten the password. Take, for example, your password for internet@gmail.com is Facebook2021. While writing down the password, you can simply write F…k2021. Whenever you need it, I expect you to be able to recall what it means. Any hacker will find it difficult to crack its meaning.
If you have many accounts, you can as well use the same password BUT WITH SOME LITTLE DIFFERENCES. You can add a few more words, letters, or symbols to separate each account. If your strong password is MilaIsTheOwnerOfMilasona, you can add Facebook to it for your Facebook account and add Twitter to it for your Twitter account. I hope you grab the logic.
6. Make Use Of Lower And Upper Case Letters
A lot of passwords are case sensitive which gives you the advantage of securing your passwords by mixing lower and upper cases together. Just ensure that you capitalize letters that you find easy for you to remember. For example, I can change the sentence above to; MilaIsTheOwnerOfMilasona
I hope you see how I capitalized some letters in the sentence.
7. Increase The Length Of Your Passwords
The longer your passwords, the more difficult it will be for hackers to guess.
8. Don’t Ever Use Letters Or Numbers In A Sequential Format
Never use letters or numbers in a sequence, for example, 678 or MNO. Using such letters or numbers in a sequence will make it easier for hackers to guess your passwords.
9. Always Add Symbols
If you want a strong password, you can always add symbols to strengthen it such as; @, %< &*, etc. If you’re using your name or anything connected to you as your password, it will do you better if you can just add some symbols.
10. Always Mix Numbers And Letters
Endeavor to always mix letters and numbers together to make a more unbreakable kind of password. If you would like to use your name or anything connected to you as a password, it will do you better if you can just mix it with numbers and letters.
11. Never Use Common Words
Using real words such as internet, book, web, etc. is NOT safe. Additionally, it is not safe to use words or slang that are in vogue. There is some hacking software out there being used by hackers that can generate passwords from such common words. So take care.
12. Use Sentences
Instead of wasting time thinking of a word or name or a date, think instead in terms of a sentence that would be easy to recall such as; milaistheownerofmilasona
If you put all these tips above into consideration while creating or changing your passwords, chances are you will never be hacked. If the tips seem like too much work for you, then you may consider only applying them to your very important accounts like your online bank account passwords and other financial accounts passwords.
The fact is by just adding a dot and number to your present password will make it stronger but using the points above will give it maximum strength.
TAKE CAUTION! SAFETY FIRST
If you have other tips to share or have questions to ask or just want to appreciate this piece of information, kindly use the comment form below this article here.
