Page 40 - How to be Cyber Safe + Savvy

CHAPTER 3: Finding Trust in Online Accounts
HOW TO BUILD BETTER PASSWORDS
A2020 hack of software company SolarWinds exposed sensitive data networks of thousands of high- profile companies and prominent government agencies. Hackers stole a critical company password to smuggle malware into a software update distributed to the company’s large list of customers.
Most people online do as badly with their own passwords. The most-used passwords are such careless construc- tions as “123456,” “qwerty,” and “pass- word.” Ugh. Passwords are the front lines of defense for our data, and developing a plan for building and maintaining strong passwords is
job no. 1 for effective data care.
1. Make them long.
Passwords should be at least 10 char- acters long. Hackers use powerful computers to crack passwords, and they can figure out short, simple pass- words in seconds or, at most, minutes.
2. Use a variety of ingredients.
A strong password contains upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters. Every different kind of character you use increases the combination space of the pass- word, making it harder to crack.
REPLACE LETTERS
a-—>@ B-—>8 E-—>3 i-—>! o-—>0 s-—>$
ADD PUNCTUATION
<, >, ?, /, *, &, ^, %, #, etc
USE THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH WORD OF A FAMILIAR SENTENCE OR PHRASE
For example:
My kids are named Sue, Joe and Micheal.
Becomes: <Mkansj&M!>
40 CYBER SAFE + SAVVY