What is Password hygiene you may ask? It is the practice of choosing, managing and maintaining strong passwords, to protect accounts and systems from cybercriminals, and it is more important than ever in today’s digital world.

THREATS

With the constant threat of cyber attacks and data breaches, we must take precautions to safeguard our online accounts and personal information. Using a password manager to generate strong, random passwords and enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever it is available are two of the most effective ways to accomplish this. The first step toward good password hygiene is to create strong, one-of-a-kind passwords for each of your online accounts. This may appear to be a difficult task, but a password manager can make it much easier. 
 

GET HELP

A password manager is a programme that helps generate and store complex, random passwords for you, and it can even fill in login forms with the correct information for you. This means that instead of remembering dozens of different passwords, you can rely on a single master password in conjunction with MFA/2FA to access all of your accounts. They are better to use that allowing your web browser to remember passwords.
 

GUIDELINES

It is critical to follow some basic guidelines when creating passwords. To begin with, your passwords should be at least 12 characters long. This length is recommended because it makes brute force password cracking much more difficult for an attacker.  Furthermore, your passwords should include a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. An attacker will have to try a much larger number of possible combinations if they use this combination to guess your password.
 

TWO FACTOR

Enabling 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) wherever it is available is another important aspect of password hygiene. 2FA is an additional layer of security that requires, in addition to your password, a second form of verification, such as a code sent to your phone. This makes it much more difficult for an attacker, even if they have your password, to gain access to your account. 
Many popular online services, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, now include two-factor authentication as a standard feature, so make sure to enable it on your accounts.
 

FINAL WORDS

Password hygiene is a critical component of safeguarding our online identities and personal information. We can significantly reduce the risk of cyber attacks and data breaches by using a password manager to generate strong, random passwords and enabling two-factor authentication wherever it is available. Taking these simple steps will help to ensure the safety and security of our online accounts. 

Check out our downloadable PDF: HM Strong Password Educational Infographic

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