Friday, August 4, 2023
By Lic. Jesús Francisco López López
IT Department
Your passwords are keepers of your accounts online. They protect your personal information such as your financial information from unauthorized access. But, if your passwords are insecure, these can be deciphered by hackers
Strong passwords are of paramount importance because they help protect your sensitive access information will not authorize. Hackers and cybercriminals use various methods to crack passwords weak. These methods include attacks by predetermined lists, attacks of brute force, and social engineering. With the advancement in technology, password formats have become more vulnerable.
A strong password is one that is easy to remember but hard to guess.
Here are some tips for creating a strong password:
- Use a combination of upper and lower case, numbers, and special characters. This increases the password complexity making it more difficult to guess.
- Your password must be at least 12 characters in length. My name, Francisco, has 9, the longer the password, the attacker will have more difficulty deciphering it.
- Avoid using personal information in your password. This includes your name, date of birth, or any information that can be easily “guessed”.
- Do not use the same password for different accounts. If an account password was compromised, all your accounts will be compromised.
- Change your passwords regularly. This will help you protect your accounts if a password was compromised.
Finally:
Take care of the information you share online. Do not share your passwords with anyone else person, even with people you trust. Be on the lookout for social engineering (phishing) scams. Phishing scams are those where you receive an email or go to a web page that tries to trick you into giving personal information, including your password.
