Many of us have become more and more reliant on online shopping and paying our bills online for convenience. Since we’ve experienced the coronavirus pandemic, we’re often finding ourselves doing even more transactions online. While these transactions are mostly safe, they are not without their drawbacks.

We’ve seen over the years instances major companies have been hacked and had their customer information compromised. Cyber thieves could potentially hack your account information separately as well. That’s part of why websites often have strict guidelines on passwords and will either suggest or prompt you to change your password periodically. Of course, it’s always better to do more than the bare minimums recommended to you.

So how can you best protect yourself from online password breaches?

How Will I Know If My Passwords Are Compromised?

There are some services available that can keep track of your passwords if they’ve been breached or sites like Have I Been Pwned that search your email to see if it’s attached to any sites with known breaches. Before using any service or website to track this information, research to make sure they are reputable sites.

When there are reports of large-scale hacking at big companies like Google, Amazon, Target, and so forth, you will usually be informed via email from those companies of the breach and be advised to update your password. These hacks are part of the reason why you’ll always want to make sure your contact information is up to date on these sites if you have sensitive information on your accounts with them. Depending on the situation, once alerted, you’ll want to

1. notify your bank,
2. put a stop on your card, and
3. check for purchases or withdrawals from your account.

What Should I Consider When Coming Up With A Strong Password?

There are many common tips on developing a strong password to use on different sites. Many of those tips are integrated into the sites themselves.

For example, most sites now will tell you that your password has to be a minimum of about eight characters, use a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Additionally, they’ll prompt you not to use obvious personal information like your name or the email address attached to the account; things like that.

Password managers are an increasingly popular option as well. They’re a way to digitally store all of your passwords safely and securely, making it easier to manage very long, complex passwords to increase their strength. While these aren’t free, they do tend to be a relatively low monthly cost.

How Often Should I Change My Password?

It used to be common practice to change your passwords every three months, give or take, but cyber security experts have been thinking differently about how often we should change our passwords lately. Many security experts feel you shouldn’t change your passwords if they are strong enough and unique enough. That said, you, of course, should change your passwords if you have any indication that your account may be compromised.

Two-factor authentication is also highly recommended in any instance where you’re able to use it. That’s when the site will require you to confirm, usually via email or text, that it was, in fact, you who put in your password to log in. A solid and unique password and two-factor authentication combined significantly reduces your risks of having your account compromised.

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