Posted by: TAZ Networks on December 21, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Why Every Business Owner or Manager Needs a Secure Password Policy
Creating a secure password continues to frustrate a lot of people. Every site has its own criteria requiring some mix of lower-case and capital letters, numbers, and special characters. And who of us doesn’t log into several accounts a day?
In no way is a 4-digit password secure. Neither is anything on the top 100 common passwords list.
So, you can probably guess what these names have in common:
- Jordan
- Harley
- Robert
- Matthew
- Daniel
- Andrew
- Andrea
- Joshua
- George
- Mercedes
Were you right? They are all on the list of the top 100 most common passwords list for 2017. Published annually by SplashData, the list also shows the ongoing popularity of football, monkeys, and dragons.
New this year is starwars, debuting at #16. (Maybe use the Force to create a more secure password?) Perennial favorites password, qwerty, and letmein continue to dominate the top 10. Consecutive strings of numbers (123456) and keyboard patterns (1qaz2wsx) are also still popular.
What’s the harm? “Hackers are using common terms from pop culture and sports to break into accounts online because they know many people are using those easy-to-remember words,” explains Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData.
So you should ask: Are your employees’ passwords on this list?
No surprise, we’ve talked before about how to create a secure password.
What’s next? We recommend that every business owner or manager create a strong password policy. If multi-factor authentication is available on high-priority accounts, require staff with access to those sites to use it. In fact, we can now set up two-factor authentication for your internal connections such as VPNs and Active Directory. Give Matt a call or fill out the form on the right if you’re interested in learning more.
In addition, take a few minutes over the holiday break to think about your online accounts, and secure the most valuable ones with strong passwords. Have a safe 2018!