It has long been debated that changing your password often keeps your data secure.  Some admins think that to stay one step ahead of hackers you should change your password once a month.  While others believe that changing your password too often is not necessary and only decreases productivity.

That being said, how often you should change your password really depends on your personal preference.  Here are some tips on how to create passwords with longer longevity.

  • Do Not Use Something Easily Guessable – Using something like your pets name or your favorite sports team makes it easy to remember, but a lot less secure.
  • Us3 @ M!x 0f Le77er5 aNd NumB3r5 – Passwords that use a mix of varying case letters, numbers and symbols take longer to guess when using what’s called a “brute force” or “dictionary” attack.
  • Don’t Make It Short – Having a short password is convenient, but the shorter it is the easier it is to hack.  Some sites make you create passwords with a minimum of 8 or more characters.
  • Use Two-Factor Authentication When Possible – Having this extra layer of protection may seem like a hassle, but it’s a good way of being alerted when someone is trying to access your account without your permission.
  • Avoid Writing Your Passwords Down – Once you come up with the perfect password it may be hard to remember so you write it down somewhere.  This is fine, but be aware that you now need to keep the place you wrote it down secure as well.  Remembering is the best way to store your passwords.
  • Use A Password Group – Using the same password for everything is definitely easier to remember, but it also exposes you to a much larger threat should that one master password get hacked.  By coming up with a group of three of four passwords that are either completely different or slight variations of one another, you can use each one for different levels of accounts. For instance, one can be used for social logins, another for banking and financial sites, another for shopping sites, etc.  This way, if one password is compromised you won’t be scrambling to change it on every site you access.

By using the tips above, you should be able to create a good password that you can use for a longer period of time.  This will increase productivity in the long run and make it less of a hassle by not having to keep remembering what you changed it to every couple months.

CCOC Rick
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How Often Should I Change My Password?
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