SSST #42 – Hacker’s Number One Method

Last year, 81% of hacking-related breaches leveraged either stolen and/or weak passwords.

Did you know 59% of people reuse their passwords everywhere, both at work and at home?

Here’s a recipe to build strong passwords:

1. A minimum of eight characters – the longer a password is, the more secure it is. A great way to get there is to take 3 unrelated words and add a special character to separate them
2. Use both UPPERCASE and lowercase letters
3. At least one number and one symbol (#, for example)
4. Don’t use a single, complete word by itself, like “PaSsWord123#.” While this meets the requirements, a hacker’s brute-force software will crack that in seconds.
5. Never reuse a password for multiple accounts (like making your Facebook and LinkedIn passwords the same).

Employee education and safe password practices should be a top priority to keep your firm protected from cybercriminals looking to infiltrate your data.

Required use of a password manager helps to eliminate the use of weak passwords.

Required password policy should be in place and signed by all members of the firm, to ensure everyone knows and will follow the above guidelines.

Adding a full security protection plan, like BobaGuard that includes cybersecurity training, IT security policies, and a password manager will allow you to focus on running your firm, and not have to check that every team member is following safe password rules and have current cybersecurity training.