The idea behind World Password Day – the day where you're supposed to change your password – is outdated. — dpa
Feb 1 was World Password Day – and if you didn't know already, that means it's time to change your passwords.
At least, that's the idea. But this is pretty outdated advice now, as simply changing your password once a year won't ensure absolute security – especially if your password is some variant of "password123".
Instead, you should make sure to have a different password for every account you have, and these passwords should be secure, which means long, complicated and really hard to memorise.
But fear not: using a password manager is a solution, as these services can help you create secure passwords, and it stores them for you as well.
Some of these passwords managers are Enpass, Keepass, Password Depot, 1Password or SafeInCloud. All of these can be used across different devices and they synchronise across platforms automatically, so that you are never without your trusty manager.
Users mostly find passwords to be an annoyance – and this leads to people choosing codes that are easy to memorise, and lots of people use the same password for every log in.
But this means that all a hacker or attacker needs to do is figure out that one code and then they will have complete access to all your accounts.
If you do not want to use a password manager, then experts recommend you have a different password for each account, and that those passwords be long and fairly random. You should also make sure to enable two-factor authentication when possible.
If you want to find out if a password of yours has been compromised and is publicly listed, you can check on Pwned Passwords, a website that collects breached passwords in a huge database.
One tip for creating your own, safe passwords is to choose a random sentence, that you can remember, and then choose the first letter or number or character of each word and make the combination of these your password.
An example of this could be: "Safe passwords can be easily created 90 per cent of the time!" The password is then: Spcbec90pcott!
But make sure you don't choose well-known poems, sayings or rhymes, as they are unsafe and probably already taken. – dpa
