Regular readers of our blog will know that we are big advocates of good password discipline. This means making sure you’re using strong passwords and changing them on a regular basis.
For most people being able to set a strong password is relatively straightforward, its the remembering to change it on a regular basis that we struggle with. And you won’t be alone, the majority of adults use the same password for most of their digital accounts.
So how to improve on that front?
Below we’ve shared some common occurrences that, whilst they won’t happen every day, will happen frequently enough to help you practice good password discipline. Let’s dive in.
As we said above, most people end up using the same password for most things. Beyond this, they tend to keep the same password for the duration of that account. Both of these things can create a risk to your digital profiles in the even that one of your accounts is compromised.
The easiest way to get around this is to set yourself a regular reminder to update your password.
Some accounts will do this automatically and will require you to change a password after a set period of time. Alternatively, set a reminder in your calendar for every 3 or 6 months to review your passwords and change them if required.
Concerns about viruses and malware
We’ve already flagged the risk you can be under if you keep using the same passwords on your digital profiles. To this end, if you’ve had any concerns about viruses and malware then it’s time to get on top of changing your passwords.
Some malware can detect your login details – so if you are using the same login email and password for multiple accounts then it will be necessary to change those passwords. If you are concerned about the number of passwords to change, you could use a password manager which can change all of your login details for you at once, leaving you with just the one password (to the manager) to worry about.
Significant staff changes
Finally, it is worth changing passwords if you’ve had any significant staffing changes. This would be particularly pertinent for business accounts that multiple people have access to, such as accounting or marketing software.
This isn’t a suggestion based on previous employees wanting to log back in and do the business harm – but these will be accounts that they shouldn’t have access to as former employees. This is all about keeping the data that the business holds safe and accessed by the appropriate people.
This of course is not an exhaustive list, however it should give you pause for thought in terms of the points at which you may need to take action to protect the data your business holds.
If this is prompted thoughts for other ways you need to improve your IT, WebbyTech is here to help. You can see a full rundown of the services we offer
here or
contact us directly for a no obligations conversation.
