2012 was the year the password broke. With leaks and dumps becoming all too common, a string of characters can’t protect you anymore. Please enjoy this infographic that BackgroundCheck.org put together.
A few points from this inforgraphic:
- How do hackers get your data? The common weakness is the Password. Password and cookies are no longer enough to keep us safe on today’s internet.
- People still use bad, predictable passwords. The most common password? Password. The second most common password? 123456
- Many people reuse passwords which can make it easy to access multiple accounts.
So what is an internet user to do?
- Enable two-factor authentication when offered.
- Give bogus answers to security questions.
- Scrub you online presence.
- Use a unique secure email address for password recoveries.
So what should you not do?
- Use the same password for multiple accounts.
- Use a dictionary word as your password.
- Use standard number substitutions, like “P455w0rd.”
- Use a short password, no matter how weird.
Anya@IW says
February 11, 2013 at 4:07 pmI am guilty of using a particular password for more than one account. It’s really hard not to. I probably have 25 or so accounts online between social media, banking, email, etc. I do use strong passwords and I have enabled two-factor authentication for some of my accounts. I think the criminals who hack into accounts are the lowest of the low, but we all have to do our best not to make it easy for them until better security measures come along.
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I don’t know that I agree about giving bogus answers to security questions. There are times one needs to reset an account and I think giving bogus answers provides little protection to me in return for the huge difficulties that could occur if I needed to do that.
Makolli says
January 14, 2014 at 9:25 amFor added security, I recommend saving your data elsewhere, like a storage virtualization service. That way, you will always have a backup of your files should anything happen.
Wendy says
May 11, 2014 at 11:56 amI am alarmed that some sites are not equipped to include symbols into passwords as those are supposedly harder to bust. I to have a few basic passwords and all except my banking ones are reused across the board for different ventures. To change them regularly would be insane, and a nightmare.