As today is World Password Day, of course you will be partying hard to celebrate. But, before you order the cake or booze, you will need to put in that password. Were you doing some online shopping for “password themed” party decorations? You will need a password to log into an online shopping forum. Were you hoping to send out evites on a social media platform? Password. Did you need a ride-share service to take home sauced party guests? Password. You simply can’t get around it – at least not yet.
World Password Day is a recent Intel brain-child designed to raise cybersecurity awareness and encourage people to go beyond their traditional passwords into multi-factor identification. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recently released the results of a survey dedicated to discovering the most over-used, worn out and least creative passwords on earth. They found the top 10 most commonly used passwords for 2019 are (or hopefully were):
1.123456
2.123456789
3.qwerty
4.password
5.111111
6.12345678
7.abc123
8.1234567
9.password1
10.12345
Now for a bit of password shaming. If this is the best you can do (and it obviously is for way too many people), I’d say I have a bridge to sell you, but you’ve probably already gotten that deal of a lifetime!
Not to worry! There are quite a few ways to spruce up that password and make it a bit more fun and creative. For instance, instead of using “iloveyou,” as literally millions of people do, try adding a name, location or swear word in there! It’s doubtful anyone will immedietly guess your password if you choose to use “if***ingloveyou” or “iloveeatinghotdogs.” If you are dead set on numbers, try spelling a few out or phonetic spellings. “123456” becomes “wontoo3for5six.”
It’s widely known that passwords are on the decline while multi-factor authentication is on the rise. Multi-factor authentication requires both a password and other authentication methods like biometric (fingerprint or facial), a PIN, a USB key or sometimes even a digital certificate.
Businesses with employees, guests and WIFI are at far greater risk of being infiltrated and breached than individuals. It’s time to start making it mandatory for those who use your network to take their internet-surfing safety (and therefore yours) seriously. Implementing a secure web gateway is a good start, like Sangfor IAM – which goes well beyond traditional secure web gateways by offering authentication via SMS, QR code, social media and portal. Other IT solutions like Sangfor VDI (or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) keep total security control in the hands of IT (AKA: the people with crazy password skills), using flexible and graded multi-factor authentication and virtual desktops to protect networks with many devices and employees jumping on and off the WIFI like hospitals and airports.
About Sangfor Technologies:
Sangfor works with partners and customers globally to optimize and secure networks and build cloud computing capabilities. We are here to make sure your network security and enterprise cloud is safe, secure and state-of-the-art.
Founded in 2000 and a publicly traded company as of 2018 (SANGFOR STOCK CODE: 300454 (CH)) Sangfor Technologies is the global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions specializing in Network Security and Cloud Computing. Visit us at www.sangfor.com for more information on time saving products, services and solutions for every key vertical today. And change your password!
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Sangfor Technologies is a leading vendor of Cyber Security and Cloud Computing solutions. The majority of the blogs that you are seeing here are written by professionals working at Sangfor. We have a team of content writers, product managers and marketing experts who are taking care of writing articles on various topics that are relevant to our audience. Our team ensures that the articles published are factually correct and helpful to our customers and partners to know more about the recent trends on Cyber Security and Cloud, and how it can help their organizations.
