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Why Change Your Passwords and Password Policies?

With more and more online attacks it is even more prudent for customers to be changing their passwords and reviewing their password policies. Your computers carry a lot of sensitive and important data, so keeping work data safe is a major priority. If your password is still the default password that was provided to you there is even more reason to consider changing your password to ensure that your data is secure.

Should You Change Your Passwords Regularly?

“Change your passwords regularly” is a common piece of password advice, but it isn’t necessarily good advice. You shouldn’t bother changing most passwords regularly — it encourages you to use weaker passwords and wastes your time.

Yes, there are some situations where you’ll want to regularly change your passwords. But those will probably be the exception rather than the rule. Telling typical computer users they need to regularly change their passwords is a mistake.

Choosing A Good Password

When coming up with a new password, you want something that can be safe from guesswork and hacking attempts. You may be tempted to use a long password, but quality is much more important than quantity. Hacking programs are capable of guessing passwords by combining random words and phrases together, as well as any information relevant to you. To combat this, avoid using any personal information such as dates, addresses or names. Also avoid using simple words and phrases; if you do, make them grammatically incorrect to avoid guessing. Use random combinations of numbers, letters and symbols that can still be easy to remember. For example, instead of “password” — which should never be used under any circumstance — you could use “p4$$w0rD.” It is still the same word, and still short, but far harder to guess either by human or program.

Ashby Are Here To Help

As there is no one rule fits all policy – Ashby Computers are always here to help and we can design a password policy for your, PC, email and servers that will fit around you as a business or person. Please contact us if you have concerns or feel you wish to change your password policy – we are always happy to help.