Who would've ever imagined the password of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to be “dadada”? Ain't it too silly to be a password?! We are all silly. Most of us save our passwords with a combination of names of our loved ones, pets, birthdays, favorite novels and characters etc. Why do we do that? Simply because it’s easier to remember and the combination has alphabets and numbers. And we are safe, happily ever after.

In the wake of massive data breach, people across the globe, especially celebrities have jeopardized their virtual space and security. Why? The biggest and the most common mistake that celebrities and normal people like us do is that we use the same password for all our sites.

There are some people out there with passwords like “y0iD94xWG2”, don’t smirk, you are not safe and you are not better that Mr. dadada!

Let’s get to basics of a good password. Mere numericals with upper-lower case letters wouldn’t do the trick. The character length also plays an important role. Ideally the character strength should be 12 or more and for your own good please, never use personal information in your password. Birthdays and anniversaries and your spouse’s name - Are you out of your freaking mind?? Hackers are smart today, all they need is a laptop and good sense of how to crack an algorithm - poof goes your security. Congratulations you are hacked and now exposed to malicious threat.

Now that we know the basics of a good password, follow the golden rule. Never Ever, not even in your worst nightmare, Reuse The Same Password. We all manage multiple accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, etc. We are no celebrities; we are just Karl Marx’s working class! Because we are the working class, we should be smart enough not only to secure our social accounts but very importantly our e-commerce sites. Just imagine if your Amazon account has been hacked, the devil will splurge at your expense.

So, in order to protect all our sites, our privacy and wallets as well as manage multiple unique passwords we need to start using LastPass or Dashlane. Now here’s the twist. You will need to have one tough master password. The master password should be your unbreachable wall of defense. Password managers will ease the burden of remembering all other complex passwords. Don’t save the password on your system, Don’t share passwords just like how Joey doesn’t share food! The human brain is capable of remembering one complex password, so use your brains.

In case you make a note of your passwords in your diary, (not at all recommended) please ensure that at least you keep it safe. Please.

The next big step is two factor authentication. This how it works. Login into your account, enter password, change your settings and opt for verify login. Enter your phone number and you will receive a onetime password or a verification code, enter the code and access your account.

Moral of the story: Have a strong password, use password manager, have a unique master password, use two factor authentication, verify your login. 

Tags : Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Password Threat