World Password Day: Today and every day

Is your password strong enough to keep your online data secure? Are you confident that your data and identity is protected?

World Password Day is a great reminder that we should all take time to review our security measures on a regular basis. It’s an important subject in an era of ever increasing threats, where our personal and business data is scattered across various apps, websites and devices. With all the accounts we have online, from the grocery app to online banking to Spotify we are expected to remember multiple passwords! Hence it’s hardly a surprise that the passwords people use tend to be easy to remember or even repeated across various platforms.

However, relying solely on passwords is risky, passwords are usually the first point of attack for hackers and are easily compromised. While the theft of a Twitter login, may be a minor inconvenience to an individual, if those login details are re-used elsewhere, the repercussions can be enormous for that individual and for any organisation they work for. This is where an additional layer of security such as Multi-Factor Authentication can help!

The global pandemic has also fueled an increase in cyber-attacks on both businesses and individuals. With employees working from home on a global scale, hackers are targeting home networks which are often less protected than corporate networks. Hence, the need to focus on strengthening passwords and improving online security is now more important than ever.

So, what should individuals and employers think about on World Password Day this year?

1 – Use and enforce more complex passwords

It’s the easiest step to take in making your data more secure and yet so few people abide by it.  Your kids’ birthdays don’t constitute complex passwords, and neither does “P@55w0rd”!  Use a complex password generator and a reputable password manager, such as LastPass to keep things secure without having to remember.

2 – Use distinct passwords for each application

You’d be worried if you could open your house, your car and your office with the same key, and yet so many use the same principle in our online lives, with the same email and password combination replicated from one login to the next. That intrinsically makes your data less secure, with the risk of a breach of one account leaving you more open to attack across all the others.

3 – Use Multi-Factor Authentication

We would say this, of course, but it’s not just us: The value of MFA is recognised across the board as one of the easiest ways to really improve security online. Not only is it painless to implement, it’s almost impossible to breach. The likes of Facebook, Google and Microsoft have simple MFA which are ideal for consumers, and for businesses, solutions like our own SecureIdentity MFA enable your end users to login securely and effortlessly.

4 – Review, review, review!

Hackers and bots are getting more advanced and new websites and apps are falling victim every day, so it’s worth changing passwords regularly and reviewing where there’s room for improvement on at least a quarterly basis.

Published: 8 June 2020

Category: Industry News

2FA / MFA