jfbqgIGB977923C!$%jlLk
That is what all of your passwords should look like. A completely random string of numbers, letters, and symbols, capital, and lowercase. If your passwords don’t look like that, you are in serious danger of being hacked or robbed, especially as a business owner, and it’s happening more frequently.
What if I told you all of your passwords could look like that, every site would have a different password, and your password system would be easier and more secure than whatever you’re using now? Here are some NEVER NEVER rules for your passwords, if you’re doing any of these, it’s time to join us in 2018:
Writing them on paper
Emailing them to yourself or storing them on your computer
Repeating passwords for multiple sites
Making passwords easy to guess for hackers (putting letters in easy to guess order, which would be actual words, dates, etc)
So what’s the solution? According to a computer scientist and data security expert I talked to, the answer is LastPass. A fabulous system for generating and organizing your passwords. With options ranging from free for individuals, and cheap for businesses and families, you can securely share passwords with others in your business. LastPass comes as a browser add-on and app that can automatically fill in passwords on websites or within apps on your phone, so the only password you need to remember is your LastPass master password (and make it a good one please).
But what if LastPass gets hacked? Now they have access to all of your other passwords right? That was my concern and why I waited until 2017 to jump on the LastPass bandwagon. The data security expert I talked to gave me a long-winded explanation, complete with “A Beautiful Mind” style whiteboard demonstration and mathematical equations….I won’t attempt to recreate that here, but suffice it to say, I was convinced. If by some chance someone did hack your LastPass, the most they could get is a bunch of gobbly-gook, that would take something like 1,000 years to decipher due to LastPass’s security encryptions. If you’d like to learn a little more about this technical aspect…here’s a youtube video I recommend, I won’t embarrass myself with any further attempts at explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzTvzqHwoZ4
So one other final note, to reiterate my point above, please make your LastPass master password a good one, and change it frequently! Mine looks something like this:
kwiakwyf2573135ROKIM18$
Looks like nothing to you, and not easily guessable by a hacker, but makes perfect sense to me:
kwiakwyf=first letter of each word in a line from a song “keep what’s important and know who’s your friend”
2573135=ages of everyone in the family 2, 5, 7, 31, 35
ROKIM=first letter of each family member
18=year
$=a symbol for added security
For more information on how to set up a LastPass account, check out this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e6QxbJMCyo