Passwords have become an integral part of your everyday lives. You use passwords to access our bank accounts, email accounts, shopping apps, social media platforms, and more. With most of our sensitive information and activities taking place online, having strong and secure passwords has become more important than ever before for ensuring our digital privacy. What happens to the safenote if startup fails?

Importance of password protection

With the growing incidents of cybercrimes like hacking, identity theft, and online fraud, relying on just a username is not enough anymore. Criminals use both software programs and guessing games to crack weak passwords and access sensitive user data.

• Guessing or brute force attacks – Hackers use automated software to guess commonly used letter and number combinations as passwords.
• Phishing scams – Fraudsters pose as legitimate entities and trick users into revealing their login credentials via emails or fake websites.
• Keylogging software – Malware designed to secretly monitor keyboard inputs to steal passwords and other confidential data.
• Data breaches – Mass leaks of login credentials from a website or company’s servers.

Strong and properly protected passwords act as the first line of defense against such criminal attacks. Enabling multi-factor authentication along with unique passwords provides an extra layer of security.

Creating strong passwords

Simply choosing any combination of random letters, numbers, and symbols cannot guarantee password strength anymore. Modern password-cracking software and techniques have become extremely sophisticated.

• Length matters – Use at least 10-12 alphanumeric characters and avoid shorter ones even if complex. The longer the password, the harder it gets to crack through brute force.
• No common words – Refrain from using dictionary words, names, birthdates, or sequences like “123” or “ABC” which are easiest to predict.
• Go random – Strong passwords have a random mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols with no established patterns. Feel free to utilize a password generator tool if necessary.
• Be unique – Having different passwords for different accounts limits damage from a single breach. Avoid repetition or making minor variations of the same password everywhere.
• No personal info – Steer clear of adding personal information like phone numbers, birthdays, and names of loved ones or pets which are easy to find out by criminals.
• Regular updates – Periodically change passwords, especially ones that have been in use for years or compromised in past security breaches made public.

Managing multiple passwords

As digital adoption grows among users across age groups, the average number of online accounts per internet user is on the rise globally. Keeping track of unique usernames and passwords for every account quickly becomes a confusing chore.

• Use a password manager – Specialized software designed to securely store all your passwords and auto-fill them when required for access. Leading options include LastPass, 1Password, and Keeper.
• Orderly spreadsheets – For technically less-savvy internet users uncomfortable with downloading new software, a simple spreadsheet with all critical account details kept securely in an encrypted folder works too.
• Memory techniques – Human memory still uniquely protects access by remembering a favorite song lyric, movie line, or a meaningful string of words adding numbers and symbols. Helps those with very limited online activity.
• Two-factor authentication – Additional log-in requirement beyond username and password via SMS code, email confirmation, or OTP generated by an authenticated device. Provides extra protection to important accounts like email and financial ones.

The idea is to use a combination of techniques customized to your distinct internet usage levels and ability to remember random complex passwords. The more accounts you have, complex your management technique needs to be while easy enough to access passwords when required without fumbling.