The need to create, store and manage passwords is a huge responsibility in modern day life. So why is it that so many people do it so poorly? This is a loaded questions with answers ranging from people being uneducated, to lazy, to educated but not affective in their methods and many more. This blog is to help those (in some way even myself) around me strengthen their online security.
From Cyber Security Ventures 2019 report:
"Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that healthcare will suffer 2-3X more cyberattacks in 2019 than the average amount for other industries. Woefully inadequate security practices, weak and shared passwords, plus vulnerabilities in code, exposes hospitals to perpetrators intent on hacking treasure troves of patient data."
"Despite promises from biometrics and facial recognition developers of a future with no more passwords — which may, in fact, come to pass at one point in the far-out future — one report finds that the world will need to cyber protect 300 billion passwords globally by 2020."
One of the first things you can do is see if any of your accounts have been hacked. If your account shows up on there change your password.
Befor you start changing all those passwords though let's talk about how to manage them. If you store all your password on a paper next to your desk or in a word document or you just have a couple passwords everthing shares STOP IT! I know it can be a pain to remember a bunch of different secure passwords. Not if you have the right tools.
Now some will say, why not just use the built in password managers of my browser? For me the main reason is access. I want access to my passwords when working in my browser but also on mobile apps or browsers. I also want to be able to organize and view my access data and share with others. I also want to be able to rebuild my computer and not worry about my passwords getting blown away.
Ok, don't take some random blogger's word for it. How about the UK's National Cyber Security Center. None of this means your passwords are 100% secure as nothing is 100% but it is better then what most people are doing today, which is not using a password manager.
There is a growing market out there for passwords. Just look at this published list of the price point for login information for different sites.
For those that are worried about the learning curve or that they are not technically savy enough. Stop putting your security at risk because of your worry. Most of these tools like LastPass have great getting started or how it works walk throughs. You just need to step out of the comfort zone for a little and start trying. If you run into questions reach out to the vendor you have chosen or to me. Comment on this blog.
Why does it matter?
To answer this let's look at a few numbers. According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s most recent study, 17.6 million people in the US experience some form of identity theft each year. Ok fine but that is identity theft that has nothing to do with password management. What is one way someone can start getting information about who you are? How do they get access to steal your money?From Cyber Security Ventures 2019 report:
"Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that healthcare will suffer 2-3X more cyberattacks in 2019 than the average amount for other industries. Woefully inadequate security practices, weak and shared passwords, plus vulnerabilities in code, exposes hospitals to perpetrators intent on hacking treasure troves of patient data."
"Despite promises from biometrics and facial recognition developers of a future with no more passwords — which may, in fact, come to pass at one point in the far-out future — one report finds that the world will need to cyber protect 300 billion passwords globally by 2020."
What to do about it.
While there are many things to do in this space we are focusing on password management in this article.One of the first things you can do is see if any of your accounts have been hacked. If your account shows up on there change your password.
Befor you start changing all those passwords though let's talk about how to manage them. If you store all your password on a paper next to your desk or in a word document or you just have a couple passwords everthing shares STOP IT! I know it can be a pain to remember a bunch of different secure passwords. Not if you have the right tools.
Password managers
One of the keys to keeping secure passwords is using a password manager. There are a few great ones out there. I am not going to cover all these as it really comes down to price point and feature set you need. I use LastPass. The ability to share security passwords or other items with family members along with it'ssecurity check-ups is perfect for us.Now some will say, why not just use the built in password managers of my browser? For me the main reason is access. I want access to my passwords when working in my browser but also on mobile apps or browsers. I also want to be able to organize and view my access data and share with others. I also want to be able to rebuild my computer and not worry about my passwords getting blown away.
Ok, don't take some random blogger's word for it. How about the UK's National Cyber Security Center. None of this means your passwords are 100% secure as nothing is 100% but it is better then what most people are doing today, which is not using a password manager.
There is a growing market out there for passwords. Just look at this published list of the price point for login information for different sites.
For those that are worried about the learning curve or that they are not technically savy enough. Stop putting your security at risk because of your worry. Most of these tools like LastPass have great getting started or how it works walk throughs. You just need to step out of the comfort zone for a little and start trying. If you run into questions reach out to the vendor you have chosen or to me. Comment on this blog.
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