You may be surprised to hear that your password practices are likely putting your personal data and accounts in danger.
The number one offending issue is that people tend to use the same password across all of their websites.
It just takes one single website to be compromised, or a password system that is not properly encrypted and visible to the website’s webmasters, and that password (along with the email login you likely used) is now as good as publicly available for all to see.
It’s crucial that people stop treating password and security issues as fear-mongering - moving forward into the digital era, much more of our lives and data will be held in online accounts, meaning to say that security habits need to evolve accordingly as well.
How to choose a strong password
The best way to choose a strong password is not to try and make one up yourself. Password managers that have properly structured security exist for this purpose - they have in-built password generators that can help randomize the recommended string of text, numbers, symbols and capitalization as per today’s preferred passwords. These passwords are impossible to guess through brute force.
Although there are many options out there, we recommend Lastpass for their free version. Their premium version also offers a way to transfer passwords and access to your vault to a loved one if you become incapacitated, making it ideal for cryptocurrency legacy planning.
How to remember a strong password
If you’re using a password manager to generate AND remember your passwords, the only thing you have to do is to memorize your master password. This master password should:
- Not be generic; it should not be qwerty, admin, password123, or the name of something close to you
- It should use at least 12 characters and be made of unrelatable words as well as at least a number and symbol.
- It should be something you are willing to key in every single day for the rest of your life; by repeatedly keying it in, you will easily memorize it
If you’re a culprit of bad password habits, change it now before you become a target!