It’s a new year, and it’s time for new passwords.  More and more of our personal and critical data is protected by passwords, and for businesses, securing this data is even more critical.  If your information gets in the wrong hands, the damages could be devastating. 

Unfortunately, it is too common that a weak password or, worse, a single password is used to make access easier.   On top of this, the same passwords have likely been in use for a while.  How many different people have been given the password?

What needs to be done?  You guessed it!  Change all of your passwords, and make them complex.  (At least do this for all websites and applications where you have important sensitive information.) 

What makes a complex password? The easy answer is one that has a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters.  The complex answer can be found in this Wikipedia article.  Other recommendations for hard-to-crack passwords include not using words found in the dictionary, number or word combinations that can be found in your public profiles, and “p@$$w0rd” does not count as a strong password.

Undoubtedly, you have a lot of applications and websites that need to be updated.  In your business, you probably also have a number of different folks who need to be updated on the updates.  Use a notepad or this password sheet to organize all of your accounts.  NOTE: Guard this list carefully and shred it when you are done.  It has the keys to your castle.

As always, if you have any questions or need any help, call Gravity Systems!

Happy New Year!

Thanks,

The Gravity Systems Team