Broker Check

Change Your Passwords

March 01, 2022

As concerns about cyber security increase with the war in Ukraine, now is a good time to change your passwords. Despite all the warnings, many people choose the easy way and use a password that a hacker could guess in seconds.

A post on cnbc.com listed the 20 most popular passwords for sale on the dark web. It should surprise nobody that19 were number or letter sequences. (The 20th was "Iloveyou"). The first rule of cyber security is to use a strong password - a random combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.

A personal note: I practice what I preach. While I've always used strong passwords, this week when prompted to change my LinkedIn password I used a computer  generated random sequence. The time it takes to copy and enter a strong password is worth it for the increased security.