Phishing That most loathsome of tactics — phishing — is when cybercriminals try to trick, intimidate, or pressure you through social engineering into unwittingly doing what they want. The anatomy of a strong password Now that we know how passwords are hacked, we can create strong passwords that outsmart each attack though the way to outsmart a phishing scam is simply not to fall for it.
Avoid these top 10 weak passwords Can it be brute force attacked? Keeping in mind the nature of a brute force attack, you can take specific steps to keep the brutes at bay: Make it long. This is the most critical factor. Choose nothing shorter than 15 characters, more if possible. Use a mix of characters. The more you mix up letters upper-case and lower-case , numbers, and symbols, the more potent your password is, and the harder it is for a brute force attack to crack it.
Avoid common substitutions. Password crackers are hip to the usual substitutions. Much like the advice above not to use sequential letters and numbers, do not use sequential keyboard paths either like qwerty. These are among the first to be guessed. Can it be dictionary attacked?
The best password methods and great password examples At Avast, we know a thing or two about cybersecurity. The revised passphrase method This is the multiple word phrase method with a twist — choose bizarre and uncommon words. A hacker might guess Quagmire, but he or she would find it ridiculously challenging to try to guess a good password example like this: QuagmireHancockMerciDeNada While the words should be uncommon, try to compose a phrase that gives you a mental image.
The sentence method This method is also described as the "Bruce Schneier Method. Use a password manager and a random password generator A password manager keeps track of all of your passwords and does all the remembering for you, except for one thing — the master password which grants you access to your password manager.
Test your email address, too Check the Avast Hack Check site to see if your password has been leaked in previous data breaches. Use multi-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication MFA adds an extra layer of protection which becomes your first layer of protection should your account details ever get leaked.
Further reading: How to use multi-factor authentication for safer apps Note: given the Reddit hack caused by SMS-intercepts, we do not recommend using SMS as your second factor of authentication. Use an authenticator smartphone app The best MFA method is to use a specialized app for your smartphone. Additional security tips surrounding passwords Protect your login information further with these common sense, high-security tips: Use a VPN when on public Wi-Fi.
That way, when you log into accounts, no one is intercepting your username and password. Never text or email anyone your password. When selecting security questions while creating an account, choose hard-to-guess options to which only you know the answer.
Many questions have easy-to-find answers in social channels with a simple search, so beware and choose carefully. Breaches continue to happen, so just by sharing this blog post with friends and family, you will be helping your inner circle to protect themselves.
Make sure your antivirus is up-to-date. You're on the right track, but not to total password security just yet. Seems simple enough, right? By learning a few simple skills, you can easily create a strong and memorable password with minimal effort. Plus, creating them can actually be fun - and your payoff in increased safety is huge. These examples let you use phrases that either means something to you, or you associate with a type of website.
It could be a phrase about money for a banking site, and so on. Considering that most computer keyboards contain to keys, you have a ton of options when it comes to crafting a unique password.
Or, create your own system- C? Is your state cyber secure? Or is it one of the most hackable? Find out in our Cyber Hygiene Risk report. Characteristics of strong passwords At least 8 characters—the more characters, the better A mixture of both uppercase and lowercase letters A mixture of letters and numbers Inclusion of at least one special character, e.
Examples of weak passwords Any word that can be found in a dictionary, in any language e. A dictionary word with some letters simply replaced by numbers e. A repeated character or a series of characters e. A keyboard series of characters e. OIT recommends that in these situations users incorporate as many strong password characteristics as the system will allow. MFA requires a 2 nd element — usually a pin code sent via text or a special mobile app — for login.
Many popular services including Google, Amazon and Twitter support multi-factor authentication. If you ever receive a request for or notification of an MFA 2 nd element without your knowledge, immediately change the password for that service.
Such a request or notification indicates someone is trying to access your account, and already has the password. Using a service to manage your passwords and remember login credentials provides an easy way to incorporate the use of strong, unique passwords. While it is not institutionally we required, we highly recommend the use of one.
Remembering a long list of strong, unique passwords is not an easy feat.
0コメント