Creating a secure password is tough. Today we have hundreds of different accounts on different websites and programs and creating a different secure password for each one is almost impossible without writing the passwords down somewhere.Your credentials provide the first line of defence against hackers gaining access to your computer or web service. It is important that you create strong unique passwords to prevent your accounts from being compromised.   When a site is compromised one of the first things to happen is that the emails and passwords are tried in lots of other common websites to see if the credentials work there as well.

So when creating my password, how do I make sure it is secure?

Avoid the following when creating a password:

• Repeating characters multiple times
• Using complete words or phrases found in the dictionary
• Repeating old passwords, only changing one character
• Using a name, company name or address
• Using the same password for multiple web sites.

A strong password should contain:

• At Least 8 Characters
• At least one Capital, Lowercase letter, Number and Symbol

At TechRelate we are constantly testing new innovations in IT to make your lives easier. Single Sign-On allows you to just remember one password. Once you are signed in you can access all your other web services without typing in a password but instead use very secure certificates.

In addition, enterprise Single Sign-On services manage the full account creation and provisioning for multiple IT systems. Create an account in one place, pick what cloud services the user needs and then their accounts can be setup instantly in all those systems.

Multi Factor Authentication provides an additional layer of security and prompts users to type a randomly generated code from their phone when they are using single sign on from an unknown location.

If Single Sign-On isn’t an option, then KeePass provides a good alternative.

KeePass is a free, open-source password manager that helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can store all your passwords in one encrypted database that is secured with a single master password. You only have to remember your master password and you can then access your other passwords at any other time.

You may think biometrics is the way forward and in terms of security – they are about as hackable as a very strong password.  However, if your details are stolen and it is possible to scam an iris or fingerprint scanner – you have no way of resetting your biometric details (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/13/biometrics-take-over-passwords-security-iphone).

Speak to us if you would like to learn more about passwords or Single Sign-On and if you would like us to set you up a demo.