Today marks World Password Day, observed on the first Thursday every May.
The aim of declaring World Password Day is to highlight the bad discipline of password management and how insecure your data may be.
It’s incredible to think that in these modern times, the top 10 most common passwords used in 2021 were:
- 123456
- 123456789
- 12345
- qwerty
- password
- 12345678
- 111111
- 123123
- 1234567890
- 1234567
Source: cisomag.eccouncil.org
Grahame Williams, Identity & Access Management Director at defence firm Thales recently said that passwords were “becoming increasingly insecure” and “easy hacked”. Not surprising when you consider that 123456 as a password was used 103,170,552 times in 2021.
Williams goes on to say that “Research has come out in the last few days showing the number of CEOs who are still using ‘123456’ as their password is actually quite comical – the assumption is that we’ve moved away from that, but actually the data isn’t supporting that.”
“We know that people are using these ridiculously easy passwords, but the most alarming fact is that they’re not actually just using them for one thing, they use that password over and over again.”
“So if somebody gets access to one of your passwords they get access to your crown jewels.”
“With everyone working from home, with Covid and people going online for the consumption of everything, the threat landscape is getting worse and worse, and there are some seriously unscrupulous people out there.”
“So it really is in everyone’s interest to take it seriously and make sure that we put as many hurdles up as we can.”
The first hurdle you can do is to create a unique secure password. Make your password as random as possible and not connected with anything personal such as birthdays, anniversaries or children’s names.
Techn22’s top tips for password
Split your passwords into three sections: random words, numbers, and special characters using UPPER and lower case. An example may be MOBILEmouseA!rp0rt
- Never use the same password to cross-work and home
- Never use the same password to cross social media and anything financial
- Change your passwords regularly
- Use a decent Multi-factor Authentication tool
Multi-factor Authentication
Techn22 can help you manage your passwords and assist with Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). MFA is a secondary check to make sure it’s you accessing your data and will verify you via another method. The secondary check could be a text message, an automated telephone call or acceptance of a prompt on an Authentication App.
To discuss how we can help you sleep better at night, get in touch for a chat.
