{"id":2308,"date":"2023-05-16T12:53:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T19:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allmtntech.com\/?p=2308"},"modified":"2024-03-26T18:32:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T18:32:06","slug":"are-you-making-one-of-these-4-password-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/are-you-making-one-of-these-4-password-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Making One Of These 4 Password Mistakes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When was the last time you double checked your passwords and any associated policies and best practices? After all, they are a key line of defense in your cybersecurity posture\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2311\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allmtntech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2023-05-09-TPM_May-Blog-Post-Inside-banner-1-1080-x-1920px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Strong Do You Think Your Passwords Are?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No, that doesn\u2019t mean, \u201chave your passwords been hacked yet?\u201d\u2014those are not the same questions. While you may not have had an account hacked into because of an easily guessed password yet, that\u2019s not to say that you shouldn\u2019t still consider your passwords carefully.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the fact that passwords are the most direct way to access a user&#8217;s private information, most passwords in use today are not considered to be strong or complex enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Passwords protect email accounts, banking information, private documents, administrator rights and more\u2014and yet, user after user and business after business continue to make critical errors when it comes to choosing and protecting their passwords.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We all know how frustrating it is when trying to pick a password for a new account you\u2019re setting up and the site keeps telling you it doesn\u2019t meet all the criteria\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It needs to have numbers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It needs to have symbols.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It needs to be a certain length.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can\u2019t be the same as your last password.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And on and on. It feels like this never ends\u2014and really, is all this fuss over passwords truly necessary?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Short answer?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes\u2014in fact, just last year a report showed that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.troyhunt.com\/86-of-passwords-are-terrible-and-other-statistics\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">86% of more than 2 million breached passwords<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were identical to passwords that had already been breached.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How is this possible, if everyone\u2019s passwords are long, complex and unique? Hint\u2014they\u2019re not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top 10 most common and repeatedly breached passwords in this report include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">123456<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">123456789<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Qwerty<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">password<\/span><\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">111111<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12345678<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">abc123<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">password1<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1234567<\/span>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12345<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The question is\u2014are any of the above one of your passwords? Even if they\u2019re not, are you making a similar error with any of your passwords?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s find out.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are Making These Mistakes With Your Passwords?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find out for sure by considering these 4 common password mistakes:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Length and Complexity<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep in mind that the easier it is for you to remember a password, the easier it&#8217;ll be for a hacker to figure it out. That&#8217;s why short and simple passwords are so common\u2014users worry about forgetting them, so they make them too easy to remember, which presents an easy target for hackers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Numbers, Case, and Symbols<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another factor in the password&#8217;s complexity is whether or not it incorporates numbers, cases, and symbols. While it may be easier to remember a password that&#8217;s all lower-case letters, it&#8217;s important to mix in numbers, capitals, and symbols in order to increase the complexity.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Personal Information<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many users assume that information specific to them will be more secure\u2014the thinking, for example, is that your birthday is one of 365 possible options in a calendar year, not to mention your birth year itself. The same methodology applies to your pet&#8217;s name, your mother&#8217;s maiden name, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, given the ubiquity of social media, it&#8217;s not difficult for hackers to research a target through Facebook, LinkedIn, and other sites to determine when they were born, information about their family, personal interests, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pattern and Sequences<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like the other common mistakes, many people use patterns as passwords in order to better remember them, but again, that makes the password really easy to guess. &#8220;abc123&#8221;, or the first row of letters on the keyboard, &#8220;qwerty&#8221;, etc., are extremely easy for hackers to guess.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ready To Put Your Passwords To The Test?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s one thing to skim over a list of common password mistakes and assume you\u2019re probably still OK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sure, maybe that one password is based on your pet\u2019s name, or maybe that other password doesn\u2019t have any capitals or numbers\u2014what\u2019s the big deal, really?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re so confident, then why not put it to the test?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastpass.com\/howsecure.php\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click here to test how secure your password is<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014take a few minutes and try a few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How\u2019d you do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Probably not as well as you\u2019d hoped, right? The reality is that truly complex passwords can be difficult to come up with, and even more difficult to remember.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why a Password Manager is so useful\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is a Password Manager?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the best ways to maintain complex passwords is with a password manager. Password managers are the key to keeping your passwords secure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A password manager generates, keeps track of and retrieves complex and long passwords for you to protect your vital online information. It also remembers your PINS, credit card numbers and three-digit CVV codes if you choose this option.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus, it provides answers to security questions for you. All of this is done with strong encryption that makes it difficult for hackers to decipher. Find out more about managers in our next blog post.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t Let A Weak Password Put You At Risk<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the end, creating and using strong passwords can be frustrating, but it&#8217;s incredibly important. Privacy and security are major concerns for personal users and businesses alike these days, and so you have to be sure that you aren&#8217;t making it easy for hackers to access you or your business&#8217; private data.<\/p>\n<p>Boost your business efficiency and reliability with our top-tier <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allmtntech.com\/why-businesses-are-outsourcing-their-it-services\/\">Outsourced IT Services<\/a> today, and experience seamless technology management like never before<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When was the last time you double checked your passwords and any associated policies and best practices? After all, they are a key line of defense in your cybersecurity posture\u2026 How Strong Do You Think Your Passwords Are?\u00a0 No, that doesn\u2019t mean, \u201chave your passwords been hacked yet?\u201d\u2014those are not the same questions. While you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11666,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2308\/revisions\/11666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandline360.com\/allmountain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}