Some tips for login security on every day of the year

Things individuals and employers can do to secure passwords and keep data breaches at bay.

It seems that every day is a “world something day” in the internet age, and while we’re happy to forego World Tuba Day (This coming Friday if you’re interested) there are others which we can fully get behind.  World Password Day, today, is one of them.

World Password Day may sound trite but in fact, it’s a great reminder that we should all take time to review our security measures on a regular basis.  Instigated by Intel, World Password Day is a serious attempt to bring better security precautions to both businesses and consumers. 

It’s an important subject in an era of ever increasing threats and where our personal and business data is increasingly scattered across various apps, websites and devices. 

A key message of World Password Day this year is encouraging the adoption of Multifactor Authentication to add additional layers of security to the login process.  Password theft is a huge issue for both individuals and for corporate entities, made worse by the fact that passwords are re-used across social accounts, work PCs and banking logins.

While the theft of a twitter login, may be a minor inconvenience to an individual, if those login details are re-used elsewhere, the repercussions can be enormous for that individual and for any organisation they work for. The need to start changing behaviours is obvious.

So, what should individuals and employers think about on World Password Day this year?

Use and enforce more complex passwords

It’s the easiest step to take in making your data more secure and yet so few people abide by it.  Your kids’ birthdays don’t constitute complex passwords, and neither does “P@55w0rd”!  Use a complex password generator and a reputable password manager.

Use distinct passwords for each application

You’d be worried if you could open your house, your car and your office with the same key, and yet so many use the same principle in our online lives, with the same email / password combination replicated from one login to the next. That intrinsically makes your data less secure, with the risk of a breach of one account leaving you more open to attack across all the others.

Use Multifactor Authentication

We would say this, of course, but it’s not just us: The value of MFA is recognised across the board as one of the easiest ways to really improve security online. Not only is it painless to implement, it’s almost impossible to breach. The likes of Facebook, Google and Microsoft have simple MFA which are ideal for consumers, and for businesses, solutions like our own SecurAccess enable your end users to login securely and effortlessly.

Review, review, review!

As I said at the start of this piece, password day really should be more than once a year. Hackers and bots are getting more advanced and new websites and apps are falling victim every day, so it’s worth changing passwords regularly and reviewing where there’s room for improvement on at least a quarterly basis.

If you need help understanding the threat of poor passwords and weak authentication to your business, give email the team on sales@securenvoy.com, or contact your local office. We’d love to help.

Category: Industry News

Data Security Awareness / MFA