Password Practices that Work to Secure Your IT

You may be surprised to find out that your business is constantly under threat of being hacked. For this reason it is extremely important that you have an idea of how to keep unwanted users out of your network and out of your applications. Passwords are often times the last (only) line of defense against all manners of threats. Therefore, you need to make them as secure as possible to mitigate the threat in any way you can. We’ll walk you through this process.

How to Create a Secure Password

The best passwords are ones that are easy to remember while being difficult to guess. Furthermore, they need to include letters (both upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols. The problem is that these security measures make the password difficult to remember, making it an inconvenience whenever you have to use it. The best way to make sure this doesn’t become a problem is to use what are called passphrases, or alphanumeric phrases that are designed to be easy to remember while still maintaining security standards.

Making too many passwords that are complex or hard to remember means that any progress you’re trying to make could be halted before it even begins. There are solutions like the password manager that make “remembering” your passwords much easier. Password managers assign one complex password as the “gatekeeper” password, meaning that the only one you’ll need to know to access your secure database of passwords is the gatekeeper.

Two-Factor Authentication

Passwords are most effective when there is a secondary method of authentication that can guarantee the authenticity of the one plugging in the password. Two-factor authentication is a way of guaranteeing this authenticity. A passcode can be sent to a mobile device via a text message or phone call, or a biometric code like a thumbprint or face scanning software can detect the user’s identity. Regardless of what the method is, a two-factor authentication solution makes it less likely that a hacker will be able to infiltrate your account, as it means they either need to do twice the work or get their hands on a device that’s connected to the account. More often than not, they’ll see it as something that’s simply not worth the effort.

SMART Services wants your business to take password security seriously. To learn more about password management tools and two-factor authentication, reach out to us at 586 258-0650 .