Is Your Password 123456?

Nearly 1 in 100 people use the password “123456” for their accounts online. It also happens to be the first password hackers check, according to Imperva, an online security site. In 2009 alone, there were 32 million breached accounts.
Luckily there are easy best practices to follow to ensure you are not one of the growing millions getting hacked:

•Include upper AND lower case characters in your password.

•Make sure your password is eight to 10 characters long at least.

•Use a different password for all sites – yes, this is a hard pill to swallow, but just write them down to remember. Otherwise think about how easy it is to access ALL of your accounts if they access one.

•Over 50% of people use names, slang words, dictionary words or trivial passwords…don’t do this! Hackers use dictionaries and lists of common terms and phrases, or information they find on your own social sites to figure out a password.

Additionally, there are computer programs that can figure out a 5-character password in less than 2 hours.

•Use a formula to determine a password, for example, a quote you like from a book or movie.

Here is one example: using a quote from Fight Club "I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise." Boil this down to initials: iAjClos. Now add in some numbers and special characters: Maybe a 3 because it is your third favorite movie of all time and a "?" and you've now got 3iAjClos? – a 9-character chain with special characters and a mix of upper and lower case letters.