Internet

Do you use an easy password? Most intrusions are due to this

Internet users are primarily looking for two things: privacy and security. If they want to achieve this, it takes time, patience, information and taking the appropriate measures. In the case of privacy, it can be achieved with a quality VPN, which will also increase our protection. Regarding security, a key factor that can help us is having a strong password. Also, it could be further improved if the account we are trying to protect allows two-factor authentication. What happens is that these good security practices are often not followed. In this article we are going to see how 30% of security breaches are caused by weak passwords.

Therefore, we must start by having a good strong password. Broadly speaking, a strong password should be at least 12 characters long, including uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special symbols like $. If we don’t want to get too complicated, we can use password managers like Password Manager Lite for Windows to generate and save them for us. This is very important because many of the security breaches are caused by weak passwords.

Security breaches by weak keys

A survey has shown the current behavior of user passwords, their risk factors associated with password management, and also the best measures, policies and practices we can take to protect our passwords from attack. A relevant fact is that the 30% of respondents reported password leaks and security breaches due to bad password practices or weak passwords.

This report has highlighted some bad practices in the use of passwords such as:

  1. Share passwords with coworkers, family and friends.
  2. Write down passwords on papers, post-its or diaries.
  3. Change passwords only when requested.
  4. Reuse of the same passwords for multiple sites.

As password authentication technology becomes more robust, users too must be more responsible for protecting our passwords from attacks by following the best security measures.

Fighting password misuse

The report uncovers some of the most sophisticated password best practices that have been implemented by cybersecurity experts to create un-hackable passwords. Remember that security breaches are often due to weak passwords.

Some of the best protection recommendations that the experts surveyed have suggested are:

  • Using secure VPNs.
  • Have 2-factor authentication enabled.
  • Avoid dictionary terms in passwords.
  • Use password management software.
  • We have to create unique passwords that are difficult to guess.

On the other hand, password theft attempts are not always done for money. Sometimes the purpose is to steal information, spy, sabotage, or take revenge. You may be interested in knowing what password spraying is and how to avoid it.

Other findings of the report

Security violations are caused by weak passwords and bad practices such as the following:

  • Online users change their passwords only when prompted with 62.9%.
  • 45.7% of respondents maintain the same password for various sites / applications.
  • Many of those interviewed have shared their login credentials with co-workers, family and friends with 52.9%.
  • 35.7% of people still use paper, post-its or diaries to save their passwords.
  • Online users have been victims of security breaches caused by weak passwords with 30%.
  • 88.6% of respondents use two-factor authentication.

Finally, a good practice to solve these types of problems is to use password managers and cybersecurity software, to manage passwords, and to prevent data leaks. This is highly recommended for users with less cybersecurity knowledge.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *