It’s World Password Day, and we’re celebrating by discussing the importance of strong passwords! From a business perspective, password security is critical. Passwords are gatekeepers to our digital identities which allow us access to online shopping, banking, social media, private work, and life communications. In this post, we will discuss three tips for strong passwords so you can have peace of mind knowing your password is up-to-date with today’s standards.

Don’t post or use personal information in any password.

Don’t use any combination of your name, pet’s name, birthdate, apartment number, street address, etc. Use complex passwords that are at least 12 characters long and include a mix of upper case, lower case, numbers, symbols, and letters. A strong password is complex and long enough to make it difficult (or impossible) to guess or crack. Another great way to make a strong password is to use a nonsensical phase with special characters. For example p!nKeleph@nt (obviously don’t use this as a password, but creative and think of your own).

Don’t use the same password for multiple accounts.

Don’t use the same password for more than one account. This will mean having more passwords, but it’s worth the hassle if one of your personal accounts or work accounts gets compromised. If your password becomes compromised on one site, it is easy as copying and pasting it to gain access to any other popular site you’ve used that password. This is what happens with most hacks. If a company for example your email is compromised scammers will use the list of usernames, passwords, and emails they have to search other sites such as banks and credit card websites to see if the same login information works.

Use a password manager.

Having multiple passwords can be a hassle but a password manager can make it easier for you to create and update your passwords by storing them. Many password managers offer a cloud service, so all of the information is accessible on multiple devices (including mobile).

We recommend LastPass. LastPass is 100% free to use with unlimited passwords. We have been using it for years and most of our clients use it as well. Our favorite feature is when after you change your password on an account that a lot of people use, it automatically sends the new password to all those people. So, there is no need to tell them that your password has changed and they can just click to log in like normal. With LastPass, you can download the app for any smartphone or tablet, install it on a computer, or even download it as a browser extension.

It’s not just your bank account or social media that needs protection from hackers and cybercriminals; it’s also your personal email accounts, dating apps, favorite shopping sites, even online games. So go ahead and try LastPass as an easy way to generate complex passwords without having to remember them yourself. And don’t forget that today is only one day out of 365 days in which we need good security practices so make sure you’re being vigilant every other day too!