Now that more and more of our data is online, it’s important to keep it safe. Most people I talk to use the same password whether it’s for their bank or for a little recipe they stumbled upon and forgot they signed up for. Often these small sites may not have top security and if they get hacked, any usernames, email addresses and passwords are usually tried on major sites such as financial providers and ecommerce sites.
So how do you stop this from happening to you? Use a safe password. Here are 3 top tips to help you choose:
- Don’t use an obvious password like “password” or the name or birthday of a family member. This is a very common mistake.
- Use a strong password which includes a combination of upper and lowercase letters and numbers.
- Use different passwords for different websites. You don’t have to have 50 different passwords for all your online activity, but you should tier your passwords based on the type of activity you do. For example, choose one secure password for each financial site you use; another password for e-commerce/shopping sites like eBay; another password for email accounts; etc. Any site that holds any financial details should definitely have a unique password.
Overall it’s important to remember that using the same password at multiple sites is like using the same key for your house, your car, and your office. If something happens to that key, you’re in trouble.
