15 Jan The importance of regularly Updating passwords
THE IMPORTANCE OF REGULARLY UPDATING YOUR PASSWORDS
Take a second to think about all the data that you have on the internet. Data stored on your company’s website, in your work email, in your personal email. Do you bank online? Do you use social media? Is your iPhone email attached to your text messages? All of these different platforms, communication methods, and internet resources contain information about you, and it is important that you protect that information.
There are people on the internet whose sole purpose is to find weaknesses in your protection. They then can utilize those to hack your accounts, infect your computer with malware, and steal your information. Sometimes they even steal your money or your identity. Staying on top of identifying weaknesses and eliminating them helps you to better protect your assets.
Now, when you think about all that data you have stored, all of the accounts you have in the world: what is the first barrier protecting them? That’s right: your password. Your passwords hold the entry ticket into your datastore of information. Sometimes one password also protects a bunch of other passwords as well. If a hacker can figure out your password, they can steal the data that the password protects. They can also find ways to steal even more data from you.
LastPass reports that 80% of hacking data breaches involve a weak password or a stolen password. Regularly updating your password is the best way to prevent your passwords from being identified and stolen.
Password maintenance for all of your accounts can keep your information protected in a variety of ways.
Regularly updating your password eliminates the threat of repeated attacks
Let’s say a hacker is able to figure out your password to get into your email account- it happens. If you are on a schedule to regularly update that password, say every 3 months, that reduces the ability for the hacker to continue to get into your email using that same password. Most hackers take all of your data at once and then leave, however, there are situations where the hackers will continue to monitor your activity. Updating your password regularly eliminates the risk of the hacker being able to continuously access your information.
It helps you protect the passwords for all of your other accounts
Oftentimes, people tend to use the same password for multiple accounts that they maintain. If a hacker is able to breach one account using a stolen password, they now have an easier time figuring out and gaining access to all of your other accounts. It is best practice to use different passwords for all of your accounts, however, a good backup plan is to regularly update your password.
You also need to think: Is any other password information stored on your other accounts/mediums. If a hacker gets into your computer with a stolen password, they then have access to any information stored there. This includes all of your saved passwords. Regularly updating your passwords for all accounts protects them if a hacker compromises one of the passwords.
It reduces the risk of threat from hackers who log your keystrokes
Some hackers use the method of tracking your pattern of typing on your computer to figure out what your passwords are. These hackers manipulate your software, or even your hardware sometimes, to track and record all of the letters that you type into your keyboard. From there, they are able to use the data collected to figure out what your passwords are. By changing your passwords frequently, you make it much harder for the loggers to sift through the data and figure out what your password is.
We find it helpful to set reminders and send out emails to our teams every few months to make sure everyone is updating their passwords. This ensures the security of not only our data but our client’s data as well.
It is important to be sure you work with a company that is committed to your security. Our team of experts holds security in extremely high regard- we even have a Certified Ethical Hacker on our team. He is able to think the way that hackers think to protect us and our clients. Reach out to our team to learn more about how our services help protect your business.