Passwords

Passwords began as short words no smaller than 8 letters. Unfortunately, cybercriminals were able to guess or use software to find out what these passwords were, so a combination of capital letters, numbers, symbols, and special characters was needed to make passwords stronger. A good example of a strong password is something like !tsTIM32gO?@N0On$. There are some websites out there that have a strength indicator that can tell you if you have created a strong password which can be helpful. Many people tend to make passwords that use information about them or their family that can easily be guessed by a hacker. Avoid passwords that contain family names, pets, birthdays, important dates, and any other information that can easily be guessed by a hacker. With a strong password you may feel you are protected but using that password across multiple accounts is not a wise idea. The most important aspect of having a password is NEVER SHARE YOUR PASSWORD!!!! (Bacon, 2023)

Passphrases

Passphrases are sentences or run-on sentences that are used to help create a long chain of characters that makes a password more secure. Using passphrases is a better way to protect your information and can be easier to remember than passwords alone. You can incorporate the use of special characters, symbols, numbers, and capital and lowercase letters in passphrases to make them unique. A good example of a passphrase is – I l!K3 2 buY &hoe$! – I like to buy shoes, because it incorporates everything in a strong password and is easy to remember. You can use different phrases and sentences as well but you want to keep in mind the basics of passwords. Do not use birthdays, important dates, or easily guessable information about yourself. (Bacon, 2023)

Password Managers

Today we have many different applications and websites and devices that require us to have a password. This can make it very difficult to keep track of all the passwords we have and we will need a good place to put these passwords. There are now applications called password managers that allow us to store our passwords in an easy to access application, such as on our cellular telephone, and access them whenever we need. Password managers may even offer strong passwords that can be used instead of a person having to think of what a password would be. Password managers are great tools for people who need to have many passwords kept securely. Password managers are able to encrypt passwords and store them on private secure servers and the account that a user has is the only account that is able to decrypt the passwords for use. This makes it difficult for hackers to access your passwords and allows you the convenience of keeping them safely stored in a convenient location. A few different types of password managers are 1Password, Bitwarden, Keeper Password Manager, LastPass, Secrets, and NordPass. (Anonymous, 2022)

Multi-Factor Authentication

One of the most secure ways of using a password is Multi-Factor Authentication, or MFA. MFA is a way of verifying your identity with a password and using a second or third verification process by having a secure code sent to an email address, cell phone, voice recognition, or some type of biological scan such as a fingerprint scan or facial recognition. Enabling MFA on any device or website you use can greatly increase the safety of your information and helps prevent hackers from accessing it through passwords alone. If your password is compromised then the hacker will have a hard time trying to meet the second factor of authentication and can help keep you safe. In the event your password is compromised or used without your permission you may get a notification in an email or text message stating your password was used and you need to verify it was you using the password. By receiving this email you know your password was used and that you need to change it and there are usually links in these emails to change your password, however it would be best to go to the site and use the forgot password option to change your password. That email may be a spam email and you would not want to send a new password to someone trying to access your information. (Easterly, 2023)

Offline

Using offline software gives cybercriminals the ability to crack passwords with an unlimited number of attempts as long as they have enough computational power. Cybercriminals have created programs that use passwords that have been leaked over the internet and dark web and are put into dictionaries that programs use to filter, find, and use to guess passwords on computers while the computer is offline. These programs have been updated or new programs have been written that can give a hacker different options on how to use the software such as a dictionary mode or a mask attack mode to guess passwords. From 2009 to 2015 there were at least 12 data sets of passwords that were leaked containing approximately 220 million passwords that were easily made public that hackers can now use to help write their software. Writing passwords down on paper and leaving those papers accessible to anyone is another way your passwords can be obtained while offline. A janitor or coworker could easily walk up to your desk and see your passwords and use a cell phone to take a picture of them, or open drawers and rummage through your desk or office space until finding these passwords and either take them or take pictures of them. (Ruxin, Yongbin, Yong, Weili 2021)

Software Updates

It is very important to update the software on your computer. Some updates with Windows are optional updates and thankfully the Windows Operating System lets you know which ones. Other applications also need updates as well. Updating your software helps protect your information because of security or programming issues that can be found after a previous update or new software has been released. Programmers work hard to make sure their software functions the way it is supposed to yet there can be parts of a program that can become vulnerable to hackers or cybercriminals. Malicious software such as viruses can be used by cybercriminals to find a weakness in a program and are then used by the cybercriminals to steal data or corrupt files. Companies often test updates after they have been released to help find and fix any part of the code in their programs that can be weak to prevent their programs from becoming vessels for cybercriminals to steal or destroy important information. Sometimes cybercriminals find a weak area of code and then the software company hears about it and creates a fix. Updating this fix to the weak code prevents cybercriminals from exploiting it. If your computer is discovered by a cybercriminal as having out of date software then the cybercriminal can use these out of date programs to steal your information or corrupt your important files. (Franklin 2022)

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