How secure is your password?

Posted 22nd March 2019

How secure is your password and what is the current advice for password best practice?

Knowing that you need to make sure your password is "secure" or "very strong" is advice that is frequently ignored and replaced with needing a password that you can easily remember.
"123456" and "password" continued to hold the top spot #1 and #2 respectively in 2018
There are reasons for keeping passwords as secure as possible though (and not using the same password for every login!)

Why do we need secure passwords?

Not having one really defeats the object of having one at all, your company could be spending a large amount of money on cyber-security efforts that could be being completely wasted by having staff using "password" to access your system. The implementation of 2FA or MFA across critical systems could mitigate the issue to a point, but asking staff to follow simple best practice in respect of passwords should be a minimal expectation.

Having a secure password is the starting point for a secure system. So, what are the top tips or best practice for a secure password?

LP Networks Top Do’s & Don’ts of password security

• Do use a mixture of letters, numbers and special characters
• Do regularly change your passwords – every month preferably
• Do use 2FA or multifactor where available
• Do keep your passwords confidential
• Do consider using a password manager to help you organise your passwords securely
• Do aim for 12 characters or more.
• Do use a mixture of upper and lower-case letters
• Don’t have passwords on post-it notes on your monitor or desks!
• Don’t have a little book next to your monitor labelled "passwords"
• Don’t share your passwords with colleagues
• Don’t use the same password across multiple systems
• Don’t use dates of births, maiden names, children's’ names or pet names, the chances are this information is available on your social media accounts
• Don’t reuse passwords
• Don’t use sequential passwords such as "April2019!" "May2019!" "June2019!"
• Don’t use whole words or passphrases, use sections of words and phrases instead

Remember, secure passwords aren’t there to defeat your memory or ability to remember them, they are there to defeat the hackers who want to access your system!

LP Networks can help you with your system security including Cyber Security, give us a call on 0800 970 8980 or email us on info@lpnetworks.com to discuss your business needs.

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