Happy World Password Day (and why you should care about it)

Every year the first Thursday in May is World Password Day, originally created by Intel Security in 2013, the purpose of this day is to promote better password habits, to have a regular day set to change your passwords. 

In 2021, it is almost standard that everyone knows someone first or second hand, who has fallen victim to a hack or identify theft. It's no longer enough to use your pets name as your password with a number next to it or to have the same password for all of your accounts. Complex passwords, that are different for each of your accounts and have multifactor authentication turned on are now crucial steps in keeping yourself safe online.

This year alone, we have seen 17 large scale attacks, such as the wide-scale Microsoft data breach, Channel9's breach and countless attacks on smaller businesses. For me personally, my sister had her identity stolen while she was living in Germany, they used her identity to apply for credit cards in Australia. It can happen to anyone.

We recommend you mark the first Thursday of May in your calendar as an annual event to run a cybersecurity health check on your accounts:

1. Run a check on have I been pwned

2. Change all of your passwords

3. Check the 'where am I logged in' section of your accounts and remove any that you don't recognise

4. Run through our checklist on securing your social accounts

If you have questions about how you can keep yourself and your business safe online, reach out to our IT Support and cybersecurity teams across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. We are Microsoft certified and are experts in all things cybersecurity, get in touch to learn more.