How to strengthen password security?

Passwords are the most common reason behind data breaches. Easy-to-guess, weak credentials cause at least 4 out of 5 successful cyberattacks. That is why it is crucial to strengthen password security. It is directly related to resistance against cyber threats.

Here are the essential tips on how to strengthen password security.

Why should you improve password security (if you have nothing to hide)?

Passwords are the entry points – if you know a password, you can access the account.

Many individuals believe they do not need to care about their passwords because they have nothing to hide. And yet, none of us would like someone accessing our social media accounts, email, or finance-related websites.

Any data that happens to fall into the hands of the cybercriminal becomes valuable. Hackers sell your data in dark web forums; other cybercriminals buy it and use it against you. For instance, a hacker might be interested in your social media profile or recent chats. This provides him knowledge about you; later, he can exploit it in social engineering attacks (such as phishing) to gain your trust.

Consequently, even invaluable accounts can bring profit for cybercriminals and cause you damage.

What factors strengthen a password?

Increased password security improves your resistance against data breaches and further damage. How to achieve it?

First, make your passwords strong. A strong password is hard to guess for a human and computer.

To make it challenging to guess for a human:

• Never include any personal information in your password: name, surname, date of birth, pets, or children’s names.
• Never use the most common passwords. These are the first ones any hacker will try.

To make it hard to guess for a computer:

• Use a long password, the length of 15 characters or longer;
• Do not use generic names, common phrases, songs, etc.;
• Do not use memorable keyboard sequences, such as qwerty; asdfgh, or zxcvbnm;
• Avoid guessable substitutions, like @ instead of a; ! instead of i, or 0 instead of O;
• Mix lower-case and upper-case letters, and use numbers, symbols, and special characters.

These guidelines will allow you to create a stronger password – the one that has a lower chance of being guessed and leaked.

Additional strategies: how to strengthen password security ?

Use a random password generator.

Strengthen password security by using a random password generator. This tool generates long, complex passwords with a few clicks. You do not need to think of different elements that you should include in a credential – the generator does it for you.

Turn on Two-factor authentication.

Two-factor authentication does not strengthen the password per se but improves your overall cybersecurity and immunity to cyber threats. Each time you (or the hacker) try to log into the account, an additional code is required. Only you possess the device (f. e., phone), so only you can enter it.

Two-factor authentication enhances safety and reduces the probability of successful unauthorized access.

Choose a unique password for each account.

You can significantly improve your password security by creating a unique password for each account. This will protect you from further attacks if the password gets leaked. If you do not use the same password on any other account, hackers will fail to access them.

However, it is impossible to remember tens or hundreds of different passwords, especially if they are sequences of random letters. So here is the bonus tip that can strengthen password security without effort.

Bonus tip: how does a password manager help to enhance password security?

A reliable password manager such as PassCamp is a tool that helps you to build the right password management habits seamlessly.

A random password generator is integrated into the tool. Whenever you generate a new password for a new platform, the password manager saves it.

This way, you can have countless unique passwords and not bother to remember any of them. All your passwords are there – in a secure, encrypted vault that only you can access with your Master Password.

Try out the tool that allows you to strengthen password security effortlessly today.