Do you have dozens of passwords to access all your digital accounts? Where do you store them if you don't remember them? How easy are they to identify or steal? There are people out there, globally, who have created and grown a very lucrative business out of identifying passwords to access the world of others with the intent of defrauding them. How can you protect yourself?
1. Devise passwords that are not obvious. Adding a capital letter and a special character (!, $, etc) can make it significantly harder for thieves.
2. Don't use just one password for everything just in case. Use different passwords for different sites.
3. Use password protection methods such as authentication via a text.
4. Never store your passwords in a place that is easy for others to access.
5. There are numerous password protection systems you can use too. Lifelock, 1 password, Nordpass, etc.
6. Don't use personal information in your passwords.
7. To help remember your password, consider using the first letter from each word in a sentence, a phrase, a poem, or a song title as a password, but also add in numbers and/or special characters.
8. Avoid common sequences, like 1,2,3,4,5.
9. Keep your personal emails separate from your business email preferably.
10. Change your passwords, mabe once a year? It's a lot of work and aggravation but significantly less than if your life is hacked.
According to estimates from Statista's Market Insights, the global cost of cybercrime is expected to surge in the next 4 years, rising from $9.22 trillion in 2024 to $13.82 trillion by 2028.
