Expert blogs and articles to keep you on the leading edge of investigations and intelligence work.
In support of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Hg is sharing this Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and National Cyber Security Alliance Factsheet. You can access it here. You can also download Hg’s free factsheet, Information Exposed, which details how to protect your personally identifiable information.
Passwords can be made ironclad with additional authentication methods, such as multifactor authentication (MFA).
Creating, storing and remembering passwords can be a pain for all of us online, but the truth is that passwords are your first line of defense against cybercriminals and data breaches. Also, it has never been easier to maintain your passwords with free, simple-to-use password managers. With a few moments of forethought today, you can stay safe online for years to come.
No matter what accounts they protect, all passwords should be created with these three guiding principles in mind:
Long – Every one of your passwords should be at least 12 characters long.
Unique – Each account needs to be protected with its own unique password. Never reuse passwords. This way, if one of your accounts is compromised, your other accounts remain secured. We’re talking really unique, not just changing one character or adding a “2” at the end – to really trick up hackers, none of your passwords should look alike.
Complex – Each unique password should be a combination of upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and special characters (like >,!?). Again, remember each password should be at least 12 characters long. Some websites and apps will even let you include spaces.
If your password is long, unique and complex, our recommendation is that you don’t need to ever change it unless you become aware that an unauthorized person is accessing that account, or the password was compromised in a data breach.
This recommendation is backed up by the latest guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. For many years, cybersecurity experts told us to change our passwords every few months. However, this constant change isn’t helpful if your passwords are each long, unique and complex. In fact, if you change your passwords often, you risk reusing old passwords or falling into bad habits of creating similar or weak passwords.
You probably have a lot of online accounts. And because all your passwords should be unique, that means you have a lot of passwords. But the fact remains that using long, unique and complex passwords remains the best way to keep all of your digital accounts safe. There are many free and easy-to-use tools out today that makes managing your library of unique passwords a snap.
Today, the truth is that you don’t have to remember your passwords. If you use the latest tools, you don’t need to rack your brain at every login screen. You just need to remember the one password that unlocks your password manager vault.
As our lives expand while we do more online, we’ve gone from having just a couple of passwords to today, where we might manage upwards of 100 or more. If you’re like most people, you’re probably using the same password for most of your accounts—and that’s not safe. If your one password gets stolen because of a breach, it can be used it to gain access to all your accounts and your sensitive information. But no need to fret, password managers are easy to use and make a big difference.
Learn more about password managers
Thank you for your continued support and commitment to Cybersecurity Awareness Month and helping all Americans stay safe and secure online. Please email our team at [email protected] or visit www.cisa.gov/cybersecurityawareness-month or staysafeonline.org/cybersecurity-awareness-month/ to learn more.
CISA | DEFEND TODAY, SECURE TOMORROW 2 Commercial Routing Assistance Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2022
cisa.gov [email protected] Linkedin.com/company/cisagov @CISAgov | @cyber | @uscert_gov Facebook.com/CISA @cisagov
(973) 706-7525
593 Ringwood Ave, Wanaque, NJ 07465
© 2024 Hetherington Group - All Rights Reserved
© 2024 Hetherington Group - All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions