It's World Password Day!

​Did you know there’s a “World Password Day?”  Me either. But this morning I received an email from GoDaddy reminding me to change my passwords. This is a really good idea.

I know, I can hear all of your groaning now. It’s hard to remember your passwords, and I’ll bet that most of you have only one or two that you use for everything. That is a bad idea. Why? Because weak passwords lead to your account being hacked. You’ve seen this happen on FaceBook all the time. Now just imagine if someone hacked your banking password and took all of your money. Yep, that would be a major bummer.

How do you create and manage the hundreds of passwords you need? And how do you remember them when you’re logging into apps on your phone? There are a few great options.

1. Go Old School. Buy a pocket sized address book, write all of your passwords in this book. While you’re logging all of these in, why not spend an hour our two and change each one before you write it in?
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2. Get with the times. Use a password keeping service like LastPASS or Keeper. Here’s a link to an article that reviews various services. Many password keeping services also have apps for your phone so you can easily copy and paste passwords right from the password app to the app you’re logging into.

You will, however, need to have one or two “master” passwords that you must memorize. Make these really secure and change them every year on your birthday. Or Christmas, or daylight savings time… you get the picture. In the meantime, take these steps to secure your passwords:

Tips for creating a strong password:

• Avoid using dictionary words.
• Make sure it has at least 12 characters.
• Include numbers, symbols and both upper & lower case letters.
• Add 2-step verification — an extra security layer requiring a code from your mobile device.
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​Source: GoDaddy