Anyone that uses a computer knows or should know what a password is used for.  However, do they know what the importance of passwords truly holds?  They are the first line of defense to much of your personal information, along with your computer(s) and networking within a home or business. Computers have become a necessity and integral part of our lives.  As you use computers, the more accounts you make, and the more passwords you will have to create for each account.  All this personal account information becomes more and more important for password protection and security. Managing your passwords is imperative if one wants to use the internet safely and have the knowledge that your data is staying safe from attempts to get it.

There are many tips on the “Do’s and Don’ts” of password protection and this should help with some of that.  It is generally important to keep your passwords different between each site. If you keep all your passwords the same, it allows people who know one of your passwords to gain access to all your personal information and compromises all your accounts online.  Having different passwords for all your accounts will help keep your information more secure, and safe from anyone that is wishing to cause harm.  Another tip is to make longer passwords that include the use of special characters and numbers, let’s not forget the upper- and lower-case use of letters as well!  You should avoid using anything that is personal and easy to guess if someone knows even the smallest detail about you, and with social media, someone could easily guess the animal’s name, or child’s name, so do not use those.  Try something new like a phrase or a string of words that only you can understand and remember.

Password Tips:

However, keeping different passwords for everything means you should keep track of them somehow, so you do not forget them. To help keep track of all the passwords that you have, you have options to help manage your passwords.  Check out the Conflux blog for password managers!  We will give you a little insight on some very secure methods to store your passwords and managing them now. There are many ways of doing so like using software to store them, a password manager, they include free ones like Bitwarden. They offer a lot of security and encryption with your passwords, and it is their number one priority to keep your personal information safe. That type of software is nice to have because all your information is stored in a very secure place online.  We do not recommend the “writing them down” method but it is still used, if you do use this method, store it in a safe and secure location.  This now becomes your responsibility to store your information and keep it safe, but this method is not a secure manner to storing your passwords and is again not recommended.

On the off chance that your passwords do get compromised, all your personal information is gone to whomever took that data.  That data can now be used as a ransom to retrieve a payment from you/your business, or even sold on the dark web for someone else to use.  You and your company’s personal information can and more than likely will be used against you if it is stolen.  Do your part by making it harder on anyone that is trying to get this data.

In the end, it is a necessity to manage your password to stay safe online!