How many times a day do hackers try to crack your online passwords? Once? Twice? Ten times?
Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s constant. Hackers are a bit like toddlers asking, ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ on a long car journey.
They’re relentless.
Now, you may think that password hacking happens to other people. People who use ‘password’ as their password. Something your nan might do because she thinks no one else does it.
But hackers are more sophisticated than that. Much more sophisticated. It’s not a case of finding those people who use 1234 or their birthday. It’s far more nuanced.
Don’t believe me? Well here’s something to make you sit up and take notice. A map produced by our elastic software, showing the number of times hackers tried to crack the password of one of the Stellarise team.
Scary, right? As you can see, hackers are everywhere. Constantly knocking on your door and demanding to be let in.
Why protecting your password matters
When you think about someone guessing your password, you might not feel too stressed. You’ll simply change it to password1 and be done with it.
But it’s actually far more concerning. You see, once a hacker cracks your password, they’re back in toddler mode… but this time it’s Christmas.
They know it’s likely you’ll use that same password more than once. It’s hard to remember lots of different ones, right? So you tend to stick to the same one for Amazon, Ebay, your bank…
And that’s when things get really serious. Not only does your hacker have your personal information, they can take over your accounts. Lock you out. Assume your identity. They’ll set up other accounts in your name too. Purchases will pop up on your bank statement that you’ve never made.
Suddenly, you’ve lost control.
Once they’ve had their fun, they’ll sell your email address and passwords to the highest bidder on the dark web. And so it goes on.
So what can you do to protect your password?
Now, come out from behind the sofa. There are ways you can protect yourself and your password. Nothing is completely foolproof, but these tips will keep out the majority of hackers determined to get in.
Here are 5 things you can do immediately to give you peace of mind:
- Turn on multi-factor authentication – if a hacker tries to get in, you’ll receive a notification and can take the necessary steps to prevent their success.
- Avoid using the same password across multiple sites – if a hacker gets access to one of your passwords, it’s best if there’s only one place they can use it.
- Use a password ‘safe’ such as LastPass or 1Password – these generate random passwords for you, keeping them in a secure ‘safe’ on your computer.
- If you choose your own password, it’s best to use a set of random words that aren’t linked, or a passphrase. For more information about passphrases, read our post to help you.
- Try not to use variations of old passwords you’ve used before – hackers will try out different ones to see if they can crack it, so it’s best to use something completely separate.
So as you can see, keeping your passwords secure from hackers is serious business. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Follow the steps above to keep you and your identity safe.
If you’d like further advice or support, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help you.
