Cybersecurity Awareness Month is celebrated each October as a way to promote safer use of internet technologies and services. Throughout the month, we will be publishing weekly articles about best practices for protecting your accounts. Each week will follow one of the official themes for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2023. The theme for the first week is passwords.
Passwords are the first line of protection for your accounts. Weak passwords allow hackers and scammers easy access to your accounts – at best, allowing them to see your photos, but at worst allowing them access to your bank accounts. The good news is that it is not difficult to prevent unauthorized access. Strong, unique passwords can prevent your account from being compromised. Using a password manager can help keep these longer, harder to remember passwords at your finger tips. Continue reading for more information on creating stronger passwords and using password managers.
Password Tips
- Use longer passwords
- At Providence College, we require you to use at least 10 characters, but the longer the better!
- We recommend at least 16 characters.
- Make it random
- Randomize your password either with random characters, including numbers, upper case letters, and special characters.
- Use a memorable passphrase. A passphrase a collection of unrelated words, such as HappyBirdsGreenHouseFarm. You can even add in some numbers and special characters, like Happy30BirdsFarmHouses#.
- Make it unique
- Do not reuse the same password for multiple accounts, especially if those accounts are associated with the same email address or username.
Use a Password Manager
Password managers are software tools that securely store the passwords to your accounts. They allow you to easily look up passwords and even autofill passwords into their respective sign-in pages.
Password managers allow you to create strong unique passwords for each account, often including a password generator that will help you create the strongest passwords. You then only need to remember a single password to access the manager, which will store the others for you.
When using a password manager, it is crucial that your master password is very strong, as it will be used to access all other passwords. Additionally, it is highly recommended to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) if supported by your password manager. This will provide an additional layer of protection for your passwords in the event that your master password is compromised.
More information about passwords at Providence College
More information about using stronger passwords and password managers from CISA
