Believe it or not, Password123 is still up there as the most common passwords people use to secure their online, digital life.
That is not very secure security.
If a password like E56tyb78-Lp901qR is good, password123 is not so great (awful actually!). If you recognise the potential consequences of someone rummaging around your email, social media and especially bank account online, you will think twice before using a generic, easy to crack password. Yes it is sad that there are people out there who would do that, but that is reality.
Rule1:
Never tell anybody your password!
Ummmmmmm....
Nobody from a bank or any secure service you use will ever ask you for your password.
A corollary to that rule is DON'T WRITE YOUR PASSWORDS DOWN! I think there is obvious reasons for that!
I get emails often from phishing scams asking me to go to their site and put in my username and password. Don't. Your bank or PayPal won't ask you to do that. Your bank or PayPal will also always use your name in an email so that is the first sign that the email is a scam.
Rule 2:
Don't use the same password for everything. Again, kind of obvious why not!
Rule 3:
Use 2-factor authentication. Seriously, it may be a bit inconvenient but this is great security. On services like Google (where all my files live) whenever I sign in on a new browser or use my Google account to sign up for a new service, I get a pin number sent to my phone that I have to enter. As long as your phone is with you, it is convenient and means that nobody EVEN IF THEY HAVE YOUR PASSWORD can access your account. Gold. If you don’t use 2-Factor on every site that enables it, don’t complain about the dangers of online security!
Rule 4:
Actually this is not a rule but a suggestion... use a password manager like https://lastpass.com. There are lot of options but basically a service like this creates different, secure passwords for you and all you need to remember is one master password. Yes you want to remember that one!Suggestion 2 - if you don't like suggestion 1 then try to find a system to come up with passwords that are hard to guess but easy to remember for a particular site or service. Remember that your password should contain uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols and are at least 8 characters long. If you are having problems remembering a bunch of passwords and keep forgetting which goes with which site, make your life easier by coming up with a system. I'm not going to tell you what to do (that would not be secure!) but do it, time well spent.
Last suggestion! Many sites now have this little button (or something like it)
Use it. Your access to the service is authenticated using your Google account so that is one less password and account you need to create. This is a great time saver!