Top 5 Password Management Best Parctices

With Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest account falling prey to hackers brings to focus the need for proactive password management. Experts advocate that social media accounts are prone to hacking and what is worrisome is the fact that many users use the same password combination for multiple accounts. And hence they compromise even their bank accounts since the password stolen might work for multiple user accounts.

In this backdrop, how can one manage their passwords for greater security? With your password being the key to your online daily life, they should be safe-guarded and updated regularly. Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, India, Norton by Symantec suggests some best practices:

Says Ritesh, “This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a high profile person have their social media accounts breached. The simple fact is weak passwords are easily guessed and bypassed, and I believe we’re at a point where we, as consumers, all know that. The recent breach serves as a reminder to use unique passwords with the letter, number and symbol combinations. If this seems too hard, and let’s face it, no one needs more complexity in their lives, consider the use of a reputable password manager to automate the creation and input of unique passwords for your Internet services. Finally, give serious consideration to additional security layers like two-factor authentication. This will significantly reduce the risk of unauthorised access to your accounts.”

Best Practices

Beef up your passwords: When creating and updating passwords, make sure that your new password is a minimum of eight characters long and doesn’t contain your real name, username, or any other personally identifying information. The best passwords include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters.

Don’t re-use passwords: Once a hacker has cracked a password for one of your accounts, they’ll try to use it to gain access to all your accounts. This is why it’s important to create a unique password for each account.

Use a password manager: It can be challenging (or nearly impossible) to remember unique passwords for each account, so consumers should consider using a password manager that stores your passwords in a secure, cloud-based vault.

Pay special attention to email credentials: Many users fail to recognize that their email account can be a front door to their entire digital life. Think about how many times you may have reset your password on some other site and the recovery link is sent to your email account. Ensure you use a particularly strong password with both characters and numbers for your email account. And don’t reuse it!

Enable two-factor authentication: Many websites now offer two-factor (or two-step) authentication, which adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to enter your password, plus a code that you will receive on your mobile device via text message or a token generator to login to the site. This may add complexity to the login process, but it significantly improves the security of your account. If nothing else, use this for your most important accounts.