Cyber Security Awareness Month – Passwords

As part of Cyber Security Awareness Month, we’re giving you tips on how to stay safe online.

Did you know? Weak passwords are the most common way online criminals access accounts.

Simple passwords could be easily guessed – using strong passwords, ideally with the help of a password manager – is one of the easiest ways to protect your accounts and keep your information safe online.

The number one tip to making a strong password is to make it long! A password over 16 characters is much stronger.

A password manager can help here, generating a long password with a random string of letters, numbers and symbols – something nobody can easily remember! – and then saving it for you. Reputable browsers like Chrome and Edge contain built-in password managers that sync across your devices automatically – alternatively there’s many great pieces of software and apps that you can use.

Another tip is to use a string of 5-7 unrelated words, something you can remember via a mnemonic or with a string of objects you can see around the room or out of the window.