What’s the Password?

Every kid has had a secret club that they were a part of at least once in their life. Whether it was a treehouse, clubhouse, fort, or just a secret location where you would meet. And there was only one question when anyone approached the entrance: “What’s the password?”

It was ingrained into each of us as kids that you had to keep a secret code to only allow those who were invited to get in. And heaven help the younger sibling that found out and told everyone in the neighborhood. We tried to make those passwords really hard, something no one else would think of. We added in special handshakes, dances, or winks just to make sure it was extra hard to break.

How did it happen when we became adults, and are trying to protect money, health information, and our very identity, that we end up using our dog’s name with 123 after? And when it is suggested to use something like multi-factor authentication, we get very annoyed at the idea of yet another step to get to what we need. Our younger selves would be very disappointed in us I think.

Here are some fun password statistics for you. Did you know that 80% of data breaches are linked to passwords? And even after an attack, only 53% of those organizations change how they handle passwords. According to InfoSecurity, 60% of data breach victims in 2020 had reused at least one password across multiple platforms. That means the attackers then had access to everything that password was used for. How are we so lazy and then so shocked when we suddenly lose everything by not taking something so simple seriously.

Here are some simple Do’s and Don’ts to help you change your habits and protect yourself and your business.

DO use at least 12 characters in a password, including upper- and lower-case letters, and special characters mixed in, not just at the beginning or end.

DON’T use familiar names of people or pets, or personal info like a birthdate or address.

DO change your password often, even if you are not prompted.

DON’T use the same password for multiple accounts.

DO use multifactor authentication when available, it’s like the special handshake or dance move you added to the password as kids.

DON’T share, text, email, post or in any other way give out passwords, no matter what they are for.

The last push I will make is with multi factor authentication. While this may seem an annoying step, it has been the one thing that has saved more people and businesses than I can count. If you don’t use it, you should on every account that you can. B2 can help set up this feature for you as well as help with any other tech security needs. In the end, your very livelihood as well as the integrity of your business is at stake. Don’t embarrass your younger self by making it easy for someone to access to your data.