How to choose a secure password

11th Jul 2017 by The Maltings

With the recent cyber-attacks on the NHS, online security is at the forefront of people’s minds. So, how can you try and protect yourself from such an attack?

Along with ensuring you have up to date anti-virus software and never click on an email you’re unsure about, one of the most important ways to stay safe is choosing secure passwords for all your accounts. Here’s our advice on choosing a strong password:

  • Choose a memorable password – this doesn’t mean your date of birth or partner’s name! Try less obvious things you’ll know you will remember, like your first pet’s name, your favourite flower, or the person you first had a crush on – and then combine them, i.e. FidoTulipSam. Or you could cut down a sentence, such as ‘I take the number 10 bus to work’ and create a password like ‘Itt_no10_B2W’.
  • Ensure it’s at least 8 characters long – the longer the password, the harder it is to encrypt.
  • Mix it up - Use capitalisation, numbers and special characters. A good idea is to substitute certain letters with numbers or symbols, so for example, S can be replaced with $ or 5, E can be swapped for 3, and A can be exchanged for 4. For example, The Maltings becomes ‘TH3_M4LT1NG$’.
  • Change your passwords – don’t stick with the same password for more than a few months, and try to use different passwords for each account. We appreciate this is easier said than done when you can have hundreds of different accounts. If it’s a struggle remembering each one, try a professional password manager, which can easily be downloaded to your computer and can store all your passwords in one place. Just make sure you follow the above rules in choosing the password that will, ultimately, protect all of your passwords.
  • Finally, never share your passwords.

At The Maltings Document Storage Solutions it is our duty to protect what’s important to you. We can store your files in clean, dry conditions and they’ll be protected by CCTV and 24 hour on site security staff 365 days a year. More than 700 organisations, many of them top names in their own fields, have put their trust in our professionalism and we hope you will too.

For all your document storage and retrieval needs, visit themaltingsdss.co.uk, call 029 20 79 34 34, or email documents@themaltings.co.uk.

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