October is Cyber Security Month—How Secure Is Your Password?

Have you seen this poster around Adelphi’s locations? It was designed by Adelphi alumna Crissy Bilardello ’13.

During this first week of the 10th Annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we’re focusing on how you use passwords and you should too.

Everyone has several passwords these days. There are passwords for your email, Facebook, Twitter and bank accounts. But how safe are the passwords that you use every day?

It’s important to remember that there are individuals who want to access our personal information and that’s why strong passwords have become imperative. Make sure to keep your information safe with these tips:

A longer password is a stronger password

A password of 8 characters or more is much tougher to hack then a password of 6 characters or less.

When creating your password, know that using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is much stronger than a password with only lower case letters.

Get better at creating stronger passwords

It’s hard to keep track of all your passwords, but a good password is one that is easy enough for you to remember but difficult for other people to guess. With that said it’s best to keep away from the usual password culprits: your middle name, your pet’s name, your mother’s maiden name, your significant other’s name, and your birthday (or any other info that can easily be determined from your public social media accounts.)

So what does that leave? Think about using a keyphrase or a line from your favorite novel or poem. Using different variations of your keyphrase for your passwords can help you remember them much easier than using a random set of letters and numbers.

Change your passwords often

Microsoft recommends that your password be changed every 30 to 90 days. This way hacking into your account becomes even more difficult as it takes hours to weeks to obtain someone’s passwords.

For further information on security issues:

Visit our IT security site for more topics at it.adelphi.edu/security.

Live chat with a Help Desk rep at chat.adelphi.edu/chat.php.

Email your issue to helpdesk@adelphi.edu or call 516.877.3340.