This week’s tip of the week deals with passwords, which is probably one of the weakest links in anybody’s security system. Once, your password is breached, every element of your cyber life is opened to scrutiny and that is not something anyone likes. The following are some helpful tips that you can use to generate secure passwords.

Use numbers, symbols and capital letters: As the title suggests, use a variety of letters, symbols and numbers when creating a password. This does not have to be needlessly complicating. For example you can use your name followed by the number of the bus you take to work each day. (e.g. N@vam138!). Have fun with it but make sure that it is a password that you can remember at all times; don’t go writing it on paper and then hiding the said paper somewhere around your desk, or worse, paste it on your monitor. 

Don’t use the same password for different accounts: I’m actually guilty of this as well and I can understand if many of you have the same password or at-least very similar passwords for multiple accounts. Try to keep separate passwords for each account or at-least try to differentiate similar passwords with numbers and symbols. 

Close down or secure unused email addresses: Most of us probably maintain multiple email addresses but only use one properly. However, one compromised email address might allow a hacker to then impersonate the owner and perhaps infiltrate the other email addresses or compromise other systems. These days, it is possible to use multiple security verification options linked to the phone or computer; use them if available.

Copy-paste passwords: An unknown computer might be compromised by a keylogger, which in turn can reveal sensitive information like your passwords. Therefore, when possible copy-paste your password and sign-into your different accounts. Leave a copy of your password (and hide it) in a USB or smartphone if possible. 

Security scans and updates: Use simple antivirus programs to scan your computer regularly and update your browsers to avoid having your passwords compromised.