Today is National Change Your Password Day. Hope you got your special someone something nice.
Yes, this is yet another made-up holiday pushed by the cybersecurity industry. On top of that, it comes just days after Sunday’s celebration of Data Privacy Day. But it’s still a good reminder of the importance of setting long and unique passwords for all your online accounts.Â
That said, you don’t have to mark today by changing all your passwords. For many people, that would be a lot of work, and experts say that in most cases it’s also unnecessary.
For years, security professionals recommended that consumers change their passwords every few months. The thinking was that doing so would limit the potential damage if one of those passwords were to be compromised. Cybercriminals would have a limited amount of time to use that password, even if nobody ever figured out it had been stolen.
But what these security pros eventually figured out is that the more often people are forced to change their passwords, the more likely they are to set bad ones. Most experts now believe that it’s better to set great passwords for all your accounts just once and let them be, unless of course you later find out they’ve been compromised.
Need some help? Sign up for a password manager. Both free and paid options are available. Many internet browsers can also help you out with this task, though they don’t always work across your various devices.Â
For folks who want to go it alone, here are some tips for setting strong passwords and protecting personal data.
Tips for setting good passwords
Longer is better. At least 16 characters is best. At that point, you don’t have to worry so much about password-cracking software. Random sequences of characters are best, but passphrases, such as a combination of three unrelated words, will be OK in most circumstances. Throwing a special character, such as a symbol or punctuation mark, in the middle won’t hurt.
Skip the personal details. If you use a passphrase,…
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