Make Your Online Password Strong

Most of us have a variety of online accounts – everything from financial tools to social media. All of these accounts have varying degrees of sensitive information. Having a strong password is one of the most important things you can do to protect your online accounts. 

Here are some password protection tips:

• Don’t use the same password for everything - You should have a different password for every account, especially ones that involve finances and payments. 
• Don’t use short or predictable passwords - Sure, short or common words are easy to remember, but they’re also easier to hack. Also easy to hack, are passwords using words that can be found in the dictionary. If it’s easy for you, it’s easy for criminals.
• Make them long and strong - Experts recommend that you use at least eight characters – more if possible - and that you mix upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. 
• Get creative – If you are having a tough time creating a strong password, use the first letter of each word in a phrase that you can easily remember, and make sure it doesn’t spell out a real word.
• Hide your passwords and don’t share them - Don’t write passwords down and leave them somewhere they can be easily found. Hide them so only you know where to look. Keep passwords to yourself, and don’t give them out to anyone.
• Be aware - If you hear on the news that a site where you have an account with has been hacked, change your password for that site, and any other site that you used that same password for. 
• Have a plan - Making sure your passwords are unique helps protect your accounts, but it can also be confusing. Be sure to create passwords that can’t be easily hacked, but don’t make them impossible for you to remember. It’s also recommended that you set up password recovery options for your accounts, so that if you do forget a password you’ll be able to reset it.

It’s time to fortify your online defenses with strong passwords.