Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Week 2
Oct. 10, 2023
Welcome to week two of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This week we will focus on passwords and password managers.
Nowadays, people typically have more than 100 online accounts. For these accounts, passwords are the first line of defense against cybercriminals and data breaches. Unfortunately, most people — about 65% — use the same password for their accounts. And that is not safe. If that one password gets stolen because of a breach, it can be used to gain access to all the other accounts and put sensitive information at risk. No matter what accounts they protect, all passwords should be created with these three guiding principles in mind: long, unique, and complex.
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 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 (such as >,!?). Again, remember each password should be at least 12 characters long. Some websites and apps will even let you include spaces.
Managing your Passwords
Never write down a password! Consider using a password manager. Password managers not only let you manage all your online accounts’ unique passwords, but they have some other advantages:
- Saves you time
- Works across all your devices and operating systems
- Protects your identity
- Notifies you of potential phishing websites
Password managers remove the burden of remembering all your long, unique, and complex passwords. You just need to remember the one primary password that unlocks your password manager vault!
Now, take this week’s quiz and see what you’ve learned!
Also, for students, security awareness training is available. Click here to access the education platform.
Thank you for keeping the University of Rhode Island safe!
This message is posted on behalf of URI’s Information Technology Services (ITS).