Passwords
Your first and most important line of defense online is your password. Choosing and protecting your passwords is super important! Here are some guidelines to make this easier and safer.
Choosing passwords:
The guidelines for making good passwords has changed in recent years, in response to changes in how passwords are cracked. Old rules such as making passwords hard to guess and using lots of special characters are still good, but the most important recommendations now are
Make your passwords long
Make your passwords different for each site
2-factor authentication
For sites that need to be especially secure, you may be asked to use 2-factor authentication. This means that in addition to your password, you will need to provide additional information, such as a code texted to your cell phone. In this case, a criminal who cracks your password for a site would also need to steal your phone. You will find 2-factor used for almost all financial sites.
Password managers
A major problem for most people is the sheer number of passwords they must use. Most people cannot remember separate passwords for all the different sites they use, so they use the same password for many sites. This is very dangerous, because if one site is cracked, many sites might be vulnerable! The solution is to use a password manager, which stores and enters passwords for many sites and only requires you to remember one very secure password.
Telling other people your password
You already know not to tell other people your password. But it is surprisingly easy to be tricked into giving your password away! Here is my rule: the only people who you can tell your password to are your parents. That means teachers don't get to know your password, the school technology administrator doesn't get to know your password, the President of the United States doesn't get to know your password. Certainly someone on the phone, claiming to be tech support, does not need your password. There is some debate on household pets. My take is large dogs-yes, small dogs-no, cats-certainly not! And never tell your password to a parrot - they talk!
