As humans, we tend to experience a lot of the same things. Today we’re talking about that dreaded moment we start any kind of new account and have to come up with a password. It used to be that any word would do the trick, then we needed X amount of letters. Then that wasn’t quite good enough so then we needed letters and numbers, and then a capital letter amongst the letters and numbers, and then a special character, and then, and then, and then. So let’s talk about it, here are our best tips and tricks for creating a solid password.
Think of a long nonsensical word or string of words. Seriously, choose a favorite phrase from song lyrics or a book, jumble the words up, maybe even spell one or two words wrong and you’re golden.
It’s 2022 and you probably don’t need to be reminded, but here we are. Don’t use personal information. It’s just too easy for hackers to guess passwords if they include any personal information at all.
Don’t reuse your passwords and don’t use the same password across the board. We know this is kind of a no-brainer, but it’s worth a gentle reminder because we totally see the appeal to assigning the same password to every account, but the problem with that is that if someone should guess your password, then they’re all the way in.
You know those suggested passwords or password managers as they’re called? Start taking advantage of those. Password managers auto-generate and store passwords for you, they’re also kept in an encrypted, centralized location which you can get to with your master password.
Make sure you keep your password on the low low. We know that it would be ideal to simply write your passwords down and keep them on a piece of paper or in a file on your computer, but you should never write your passwords down and if you do keep a file of passwords, make sure there are just hints, not the actual passwords.
You’re really going to hate us for this, but you gotta change those passwords regularly. This is where those password managers come in handy because let’s face it, coming up with password ideas every few weeks is actually way challenging.
If a website offers that two-factor authentication, take advantage of it! This just adds an extra level of protection and it’s usually something super simple like getting a code text to your phone, then entering that code on the website.