Change Your Passwords
One of the best ways to keep your website safe is to change your passwords. Constantly. And then do it again in 30, 60, or 90 days. If you take a look around, password hacking seems to constantly be in the news!
Here is an almost timeless article from the NY Times (from years ago) regarding passwords. It discusses some Best Practices and ideas to follow when you need to generate a password:
How To Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away – they recommend simple things like:
- FORGET THE DICTIONARY – Don’t use words (or a string of words) that you find in the dictionary.
- NEVER USE THE SAME PASSWORD TWICE – self-exclamatory – change your password to something different. Every Time.
- STORE YOUR PASSWORDS SECURELY – do not keep them in a file called, Passwords.txt
Personally, I use LastPass – this is a password encryption tool. There is a free version as well as a paid version (under $40 each) that you can check out.
I store my passwords on a USB drive that is secure to military specs (technically, it is an IronKey USB drive). This drive allows for a complete cryptographic erase of the drive as opposed to permanently destroying it after 10 failed attempts at a password. This means that the data is completely gone, but the drive is definitely still usable for new stuff.
How often are you changing your password? Do you do it every so often? You should get in the habit of changing them on a regular basis. Think about the types of passwords that you have:
- Hosting account
- Registrar
- Dashboard to your WordPress site
And those are only the ones associated with your website! There are all sorts of tools you can use to remind you – I have been using a free service, Toodledo, for years and I love it!
I hate changing passwords. I hate what happens if you don’t, but I really hate changing passwords. Great info.
It is just a suggestion… Grant it, a really good one, but one that people don’t like to do. It kinda goes along with making backups! LOL.
I have so many passwords that it has become painful to change them. I tend to wait until the software/app forces me to change it. I know that I should do better.
It is better to be proactive and change them sooner, rather than waiting to be forced! At least that is what I think. “-)
Oh, it is one of the banes of my life. I am sure some of mine change themselves!! I am in the process of updating mine. Grrr.
LOL – self changing passwords… That made me chuckle, Di!
Take it from someone who has lost whole blogs because of a hacker, you may not like doing it. But, change those passwords!
Sorry to hear that, Brenda! Yes! update your passwords!! Be Safe!
love those tools and tips you have suggested.. need to work on doing it more often
It will become a habit the more you do it, Vidya!
Great reminder! I frequently change my passwords even though I’ve just got to where I remember the old ones! I’ll have to look into LostPass and I like the idea of storing them on a USB. I usually write them in a notebook then forget where that is! LOL
It is LastPass 🙂 I would be lost without it!
Hi,
Do you have any experience with password management software that creates passwords for you and retrieves them when needed?
I have seen several advertised.
I like LastPass as I mentioned! I would be lost without it! all my passwords are ugly and Strong!