What does your password handling look like?
When it comes to their online passwords, many Germans prefer continuity: 37.6 percent said in a representative Civey survey commissioned by the eco association that they change their passwords less often than once a year. 14.8 percent say they never change them. Once a year, 7.9 percent think of new passwords for their online accounts, and 16.9 percent several times a year.
Is that enough?
Every year, “Change your password” day on February 1st aims to motivate people to change passwords. However, users should only take action if they are unsafe. In 2022, the most popular password among Germans was “123456,” according to the Hasso Plattner Institute .
“Given the number of passwords we use, it is better to use strong, hard-to-crack passwords rather than changing them frequently. Strong passwords protect your online identity and prevent unauthorized access to personal or business information. An additional, second factor is even better.”
Prof. Norbert Pohlmann, board member for IT security at eco – Association of the Internet Industry. v.
With these three eco tips you can stay safe on the Internet:
Tip 1: Swap insecure passwords for cryptic ones
These are eight to twelve characters long and consist of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters - in arbitrary order. Check that your important online passwords are secure and hard to crack - and if necessary, change them today.
Tip 2: Use a password manager...
... because secure passwords are difficult to remember. This means you only have to remember one password, namely the one for your password manager. For all other purposes, the software automatically generates strong and unique passwords and stores them in encrypted form - locally on a device or online. This has the advantage that you can also access your own passwords on mobile devices and with different devices.
Tip 3: Use two-factor authentication for particularly secure access
A second identification method, in addition to the password, increases security. This two-factor authentication is available in numerous variants, for example as a code via SMS, with a TAN generator in online banking or in an app. A strong password and activated two-factor authentication provide very effective protection against misuse by criminals.
The eco association also gives a suggestion on how to easily remember even a complex password. It helps to think of a sentence or phrase and take the first letters of each word and combine them with special characters and numbers. Example: From “I live in a yellow house and have 2 cats” IwiegH&h#2K! become.
Source:
eco association
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Notes:
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