5 Tips to Avoid Having Your Passwords Hacked | Total Security

5 Tips to Avoid Having Your Passwords Hacked | Total Security



Nowadays the theft of password databases is more and more frequent. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your passwords as secure as possible, and here are our 5 tips. 

For some time now, huge password leaks have appeared, for example, MySpace and its 360 million identifiers, but also LinkedIn. These were old leaks that have come back to the fore as hackers are currently selling these.


Large groups have decided to react after Google, which wants to ban passwords altogether by replacing them with trust scores, Microsoft is also doing it by wanting to ban passwords that are too simple.


But sometimes these methods are not enough, so we decided to provide you with 5 tips to minimize the risk of having your passwords hacked.


CHOOSE A “STRONG” PASSWORD

It might seem logical, but the first thing is to choose a strong password that includes letters, numbers, caps and special characters. Because you should know that most of the time hackers make brute force attacks, that is to say, they attempt a large number of combinations using lists of passwords that are often used.


For this, we have already seen a method to create the ultimate password, but to avoid having to worry too much, a simple method consists of taking a sentence, keeping only the syllables and adding a special character to it. the end and the beginning.


A PASSWORD FOR EACH SERVICE AND A REGULAR CHANGE

Another advice that may seem logical is to use a password for each service you use like Facebook, Google, Outlook, Amazon etc ... Indeed when a hacker will crack a password one of the first things 'he will do that is to try it on other websites or mailboxes.


The other tip is to change your passwords regularly. As we saw with the LinkedIn leak, the passwords for sale date back to 2012, that is to say almost 4 years.


On the same topic:  The best Android apps to manage your passwords

USE A PASSWORD MANAGER

We know that most of the time we have several accounts, sometimes more than ten. And remembering a password for each account quickly becomes an ordeal, we no longer know where to write them down. So the easiest solution is to use a manager.


These are software that will save all your passwords and encrypt them, even if your list is stolen in almost all cases it cannot be exploited. Among these managers, we can mention for example  KeePass (free and open-source), 1Password or LastPass. They offer randomly created passwords. The last two also allow you to automatically fill in the boxes and also to synchronize everything on several devices.


ENABLE TWO-STEP AUTHENTICATION

It's one of the ultimate weapons against piracy: two-step authentication. Basically, even if the hacker obtains your password and your username when entering it, the site will activate the second step to connect. Most often it is the sending of an SMS or the fingerprint when the latter is implemented.


Thanks to this, the hacker will not be able to access your account, except if he has also recovered your smartphone ... Unfortunately this service is not currently offered by Google, Apple or even Facebook.


SEARCH THE DATABASES FOR HACKED PASSWORDS

With password thefts on the rise, total security researchers have put together lists of cracked passwords. Microsoft plans to use these lists to ban certain passwords. Most of the time it's also to check if your password is not on the list. The two most used sites are haveibeenpwned.com and leakedsource.com. We recommend that you take a look at it from time to time.


Herewith these tips, the risks will be really reduced to the maximum, if you have others or if you want to share your experience,  the comments are there for that.

S

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