Posted on by BIS Info

The keys to the Kingdom.

Passwords

They’re everywhere.  It seems you nearly need one to go to the bathroom these days.  Unfortunately though, they’re Essential.  No, essential isn’t strong enough.  They’re CRITICAL.

As you undoubtedly already know, these pesky passwords are quite literally the keys to the kingdom. You work with them, you bank with them, you reveal your personal life on social media with them, you shop with them, You secure your digital life with them.

However we still deal daily with people who don’t seem to get what would happen if someone were to obtain their keys to their kingdom.

For the sake of brevity, please believe me when I say that ALL your online and computer passwords are critical.  When they fall into the wrong hands, bad stuff follows.  Incidentally, if you want to know if your passwords are already compromised (pretty good chance they are) head on over to Troy Hunt’s excellent HaveIbeenPwned (no that is not a typo) site to test your email and passwords.

So here’s what to do…

If you follow this advice, your digital world will be a lot more secure than it probably is now.

  1. Never reuse the same username/password combination on more than one site.
    1. So that means every site needs a different username/password combination.
    2. This is vital!
  2. Obviously this means you can’t remember them all.  So don’t!  Use a password manager.  We use 1Password, but LastPass, and Dashlane are also excellent.  At the very worst, write them in a book.
  3. A good password is hard to remember.  More than 16 characters with a combination of characters, cases, numbers, and symbols. (So use a password Manager!)
  4. If you must remember the password (very frequent use etc) use a few disparate words strung together. (e.g. “Ferrari desired-moolah,mi55ing” and please don’t use this one).  Just something that you’ll remember, but would be hard to determine from knowing something about you.
  5. Use 2FA/MFA anywhere you can.  This is something you you have.  A hardware token, an Authenticator App, a text to your mobile etc.
  6. Don’t share your password with anyone.

And there you have it.  Simple! Well maybe not simple, but free and achievable.  And please persist with the password manager.  They’re a pain for the first month, while you load them up with all your info.  Then you’ll wonder how you survived without one.

Safe Travels!

Ross Marston.