Unique and strong passwords!

Unique and strong passwords for each account is the most important to keep your accounts decently safe. 

Earlier this week it was reported that Facebook has made a mistake and stored millions of passwords in plain text. Reported for example an article in Wired; Facebook stored millions of passwords in plaintext—change yours now. And this is not the first time accounts have, or possible have been revealed, by mistake or by hackers. 

Every time something like this Facebook case is published, and you have an account at the affected sercice: change password directly!

My short recommendation for passwords: A unique and strong passwords for each account.

Passwords, a somewhat longer recommendation:

• Use one password per account - do not reuse
• Use long and "nonsense" strings (or phrases that only make sens to you); I typically use 30 characters nonsense string
• Mix letters uppercase, lowercase, digits and special characters (but avoid language specific)
• It can be debated if it really is necessary to change password regurlarly if it is very strong. But surely no harm to change regularly

In addition, an extra protection layer of Two factor authentification (2FA), is generally good to use whenever available. 

Check if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach. The data base "Have I been pwned" is a good resource to check if and where your e-mail can be affected.

I can willingly admit that I have been lazy to change password immedeately, nor have I been using strong and unique passwords. But I have improved a lot. :-) For a period of time I have been using a Password manager. It helps a lot. 

Read more about my password journey in the article How I handle Passwords. 

There are many articles on the internet about passwords, security and privacy. Read more than mine articles, to conclude what you thing is best for you. 

Henrik Hemrin

22 March 2019