How to Create Strong Passwords to Reduce Security Concerns and Boost Cybersecurity
One of the most important things you need to stay safe is to create strong passwords. Passwords that cannot be easily hacked are an integral part of smart cybersecurity practices to keep you and your organization safe. Forbes has released an article about how to create a strong password and Hikvision also has several tips that are helpful for password creation and remembrance.
This Forbes article reiterates that strong passwords are necessary in today’s world. Strong passwords keep your personal information safe, protect emails and files, and prevent someone from hacking your account. It’s very important to make passwords complex using a unique combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. Here are five tips for creating a strong password from the article:
- Make passwords 12 characters or longer: The longer the password, the better. Longer passwords take hackers more work to create a number of possible sequences when hacking.
- Use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols: The letters need to be a combination of upper case and lower case. Capitalize more than just the first letter and mix up the capitalization. Use special characters like punctuation to break up the letters and numbers.
- Do not use personal data: Avoid using personal information about yourself. This information can become part of your personal data used to hack your accounts and attempt to steal your identity.
- Combine unrelated words: Use word combinations that are not anything someone could guess. Use three or four longer words mixed with numbers and special characters.
- Avoid words as they are written in the dictionary: This can be accomplished by intentionally including spelling errors in words. Also, substitute numbers or special characters for letters to make it more difficult.
Hikvision also offers password tips from Chuck Davis, Hikvision’s Vice President of Global Information Security. His blog tips include using multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all of your personal accounts and to never reuse passwords. Davis also suggests that you sign up for alerts to know if your email address has shown up in a data breach. Finally, it’s recommended to use a password manager to help in creating and storing passwords and to use passkeys (where available).
For more information about passwords and general cybersecurity, visit our online cybersecurity center.