Do a quick Google search for “password hacking software”, and you will be shocked (and maybe appalled) at how many people sell programs design to crack your passwords and hack your accounts. You’ll also find questions from people around the world asking, “what are the best ways to hack someone’s password?” These are the people you need to protect yourself against.
Here are the top cyber security factors to make a strong password and accessing your accounts:
If it’s in the dictionary, it’s a real word, and it doesn’t belong in your passwords. There is an entire method of password hacking called “dictionary attack” that exploits people’s tendency to use dictionary words in their passwords.
Turn off automatic passwords, auto login, and password storage on your web browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) Any password stored in this way can be hacked.
Don’t store any important passwords in the cloud, for the same reason as #7. Online storage is easily hacked into.
Don’t log in to important accounts on shared computers (your home family computer is fine, as long as you trust everyone at home). This includes library computers, shared office computers, etc. The same goes for public internet connections, like a public wifi hotspot at a coffee shop, web proxies, free VPN or Tor.
A strong password is no good if you transmit it willy-nilly. Only send sensitive information if you’re on a secure connection. A secure connection will say either “HTTPS” (as opposed to HTTP) or “SFTP” (as opposed to FTP). These connections are encrypted and much more difficult to hack than their counterparts.
Encrypt and store your passwords in a few different locations. That way, if you lose access to your computer or account, you can get your passwords back quickly and easily.