How do I choose a secure password?

How do I secure my password
How do I secure my password

Every year thousands of accounts are hacked. The current targets of hackers concern large sites with high traffic such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.

With the proliferation of accounts requiring authentication, they are increasingly difficult to remember. However, choosing complex passwords is crucial, and can allow you to maintain a certain level of confidentiality, but it all depends on the complexity of the passwords.

In this article, we'll take a look at some basic tips, and some handy tools for choose a secure password.

The TOP 3 of the most common passwords

  • 123456
  • Password
  • 12345678

Points to avoid

You should also avoid passwords that are too obvious, such as:

  • Words from the dictionary
  • Names and surnames
  • Birth dates

The visual use of the keyboard, ie 123 or AZERTY is strongly discouraged. In the same way if you remember a series of letters or numbers or the repetition of a sequence.
It is best to use a different password between your email accounts and your website accounts. In addition, you must not set up a password of less than 8 characters.

Type of attack to hack a password

The most common password attack involves brute force attacks. It involves testing, one by one, all possible combinations. This exhaustive search method only succeeds in cases where the desired password consists of few characters. These programs attempt all password possibilities in random order in order to fool security software into preventing all passwords from being attempted in order.

Another attack which is also used by hackers is the Phishing that is to say through your messaging system, you receive a message asking you to identify yourself again.

In fact, this is the same website that you use regularly only one or two small details show that this is a hoax. The cue often comes from the URL because even if the site offers a security link with a header identical to the original, you may have a URL that points elsewhere, such as a hacker server.

How to secure your password?

There are no quick fixes, just a few tips you can follow. First of all, do not trust websites, because even if they advertise 100% security at the level of your account, there may be a risk coming from another linked account or from a new penetration technique. .

But the least risky solution is to perform certain operations manually:

  • It is important to use Passwords different between your different accounts (messaging, banking services, social networks, etc.)
  • You need to remember to change your mostly important passwords regularly. Especially if you have check if someone is spying on your accounts
  • Log out after your session when using a computer that does not belong to you.
  • Close your sessions if you are not the only one using your computer, which allows you to be as careful as possible.
  • Another important point is not to respond to emails (phishing) that ask you to identify yourself again to verify that the servers are up to date, even if this seems plausible to you.
  • Provide a fairly complex password

In addition, it is important not to leave a text file visible on your computer, especially if it has a list of your passwords and is accessible by different people.

Conclusion

Many messaging companies or sites with millions of accounts regularly introduce new systems so that you can recover a new password. These systems are varied, it could be a hidden question or a telephone number to receive an SMS as well as an email account different from the one you have registered. Of course, even if you rely on these different services, you also need to set a fairly substantial password.