UTOPIA University: The Truth About Passwords
Hello UTOPIA Fiber family and welcome back to this month’s UTOPIA University episode. Today we’re going to give you the inside scoop on what not to do when it comes to creating passwords and some things that you can do to help keep your account safe.
Let’s think like a hacker for a second. What would make their job easy? Having an obvious password. If your password is Password123, that’s like locking your door and leaving the key taped to the door frame. Be sure to keep your password unique so that it isn’t easy for hackers to guess.
Another thing hackers love? When people reuse the same password. This is like giving a hacker an all access pass to every account. One leak and they’re in your bank account, your email, and even the MySpace you forgot about. And yes, MySpace is still around!
Hackers also love short passwords. If your password is short, like six or seven characters, it’s like a speed bump. Hackers can crack that immediately.
If you’re also sharing passwords, you’re making hackers’ lives much easier. Although you might want your family to have the Netflix password, it’s not a really good security practice if everyone has access.
Okay, so now let’s cover what makes the job for a hacker difficult and what would cause them to give up.
We want to think of passwords like pass phrases. Use a random combination of words. You can even pick items off your desk or something like TrampolineWizard98! You’ll want to make your password long, at least 12-16 characters. This is like adding extra locks to your door, only way cheaper. Next thing you’ll want to do is to use a password manager, these are a life saver. Password managers create unique passwords for all your accounts, which is great because the only thing you’ll have to commit to memory are things like your wife’s birthday, which you definitely shouldn’t forget.
Another way to eliminate hackers is to turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA is like hiring a bouncer for your password. If someone guesses your password correctly, with that added step, usually a code on your phone, they’re not getting in your account. Hackers hate MFA, but you should love it.
Okay, now let’s paint a picture. Imagine you’re a hacker sitting at a computer running a fancy program that’s cracking millions of passwords per second. First up, you try a simple password like fluffy123. Boom, instant hit. That’s how fast it can happen. Hackers are lazy. They don’t sit in front of a computer manually typing things like in a hollywood movie. It’s all automated. They throw in word lists, pet’s names, your favorite sports team, or really anything they can find off social media and boom! Just like that, you’re hacked. Now, let’s switch it up. Let’s say you have a more complicated passphrase like ChainsawBanana42!, suddenly the hacker’s like “yeah I’m never gonna guess that.” and they’ll give up. Having a strong passphrase is like having a steel door with three deadbolts, an alarm system, and a guard dog.
Bottom line, hackers aren’t wizards, they just count on us being lazy. So, do yourself a favor and use a long, unique password, get a password manager, and set up multi-factor authentication. And, seriously go change that one password that you’ve had since childhood.
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