Marc Enzor is the owner of Geeks 2 You, a local IT consulting and technology firm. Enzor gave a presentation to a group of business owners and shared good internet password practices.
According to Enzor, professional hackers use computer programs to run various character combinations when trying to hack your passwords. Passworddepot.com reports these computer algorithms can process 2 billion keys per second. At these speeds, it does not take long to predict most people’s passwords. When it comes to passwords, longer is better. For example:
Imagine your online banking password contains a total of eight characters. You mix it up to include four lower case letters, two special characters and two numbers. It might look something like this β2z@oqt8%β. It would only take the computer hacking software 2.6 days to obtain this password.
Conversely, imagine your password is slightly longer, say a total of twelve characters. If you incorporate both upper case and lower case letters, a few numbers and special characters, it might look like this βMYMoney$$$18β. While this password looks easier to hack, it is not. It would take the same computer hacking software 7.5 million years to hack this password.
You can clearly see the importance of longer passwords that utilize both upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
Enzor recommends that you change your passwords every 90 days or so. He also warned against using the same passwords for multiple accounts. All of this sounds great on the surface, but how are we supposed to remember all of our passwords if they are different for every site, AND we have to constantly change them?
Enzor had a great solution for that too. There are several affordable online password management companies that will safely manage your passwords and allow you to log into sites automatically.
For more information, contact Geeks 2 You at 222-8000.
