We’re always talking about cyber security and making sure you have all the precautions in place yet sometimes the issue can be as small as a password. Would you have your email login without a password? Would you just let it be so that you just typed your username in and you had access straight away? Probably not.
The issue is that in some cases it might as well be that way because the passwords that people are choosing are so easy to crack. If you choose a password that is easy for you to remember then the likelihood is that it is easy for someone to break. Below we have gathered a selection of the top 10 most common passwords.
Top 10 Most Common Passwords
- 123456
- 123456789
- 12345
- qwerty
- password
- 12345678
- 111111
- 123123
- 1234567890
- 1234567
Bad Habits
You need to make sure that the passwords that you are using are not easy to get past. We know how difficult it is. We know that you will have a password for hundreds of different accounts like your work email, your personal email, your online banking, your Amazon, your eBay, your phone, your Netflix, your Facebook, your Twitter. The list is endless. We get it and we know that you will use the same password for multiple different things. It’s natural. Just think about what you’re doing a little bit more. If your Twitter account is compromised will your work email be too? If your Facebook is compromised, are you an admin for the business’s page? You have to make sure that people can’t just walk through the door without even having to unlock it.
Choosing Passwords
We recommend that when you are choosing a password to not have a password. We suggest that you have a passphrase, whether that’s your favourite line from a song or a quote or something that just makes you laugh. Within that passphrase you should have a combination of upper and lower case letters as well as numbers and, if you can remember them, special characters like &, % ! and £. By doing this you will make it so much more difficult for your accounts to be compromised. And we recommend that all your passwords are different, and that no two accounts have the same password. For more information, check out our article on the importance of using different passwords.
Post-It Notes
One of the reasons that we suggest a passphrase is because it’s easier to remember. We have all seen post-it notes stuck to computer monitors with a password on. We know it’s difficult but assuming that only people who want to compromise your accounts are the ones that don’t have access to your office isn’t a good move. You could have someone visit who sees the note, someone may take a photo of you at your desk and post it on social media or it could just be someone in the building who you think you trust. Even if the note doesn’t state what the password is it could give someone access to a variety of things, they only have to guess.
If you are concerned at all about your passwords or your business’s security in general please contact ACUTEC for IT support and security guidance.
