How to create a strong password to protect yourself from hackers

Create strong passwords that provide security against hackers and expose your data to misuse like identity theft.

It is essential to have a good password to protect yourself from hackers who may be able to access all of your personal account information. Weak passwords can have serious consequences that may even lead to identity theft.

It might get tiresome thinking of new passwords for different accounts and can be tempting to reset your password everytime you forget it. Here are some tips to setting strong password and login credentials that will minimize the risk of your data being exposed. 

Use a Password Manager or write it down on paper

Password Managers are designed to keep a track of your strong passwords containing characters, numbers and special symbols, which are eight characters long. These applications work across your phone and desktop. You will be required to memorize just one password for the appl which will provide credentials to access different accounts with indivitual login information.

Contrary to what we've been told, you can write your login credentials to different accounts on a piece of paper and keep it in a safe space. It is not recommended to write your password information on Google sheets or word documents, since if your account is break-in into it can be misused by hackers. 

Avoid common words and character combination 

Common words are much easier to guess and will easily be hacked. Avoid using words like 'password' or 'mypassword', including predictable character sequence like 'qwerty'. You should also avoid using your basic public information like your name, contact number, birthday, pet name, anniversary or address. 

You can instead use acronyms and shortcut codes like L82day (later today), while also using your keyboard to create emoticans with commonly allowed symbols. You can create passwords using a symbol drawn on the keyboard like letter W or shapes. 

Don't recycle your passwords

Using the same passwords across different accounts is a bad strategy, and can compromise your entire personal data if your password is leaking which will expose your information on all accounts. Modifying a root password by adding or deducting a prefix or suffix is equally bad.

Use two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication is known to provide extra security against hackers who might guess your credentials. The verification code ensures that even if someones guesses your password logging in from an untrusted device, it will not go through unless the code is correctly entered. 

It is common to receive verification codes via text message, it can be quite easy for hackers to steal your phone number especially through SIM Swap fraud and intercept the verification code. A safer way to intercept codes is through using apps like Google authenticator, Authy or Microsoft Authenticator. Once you've set up your browser and device, verification will not be required every time.