27 August 2020
How often you should change your passwords.
No one enjoys working with passwords, but they’re necessary for keeping your accounts secure — at least until something better comes along.
You likely already make sure that your passwords are strong and difficult-to-crack. You might even go the extra step, and never use the same password for more than one account at once.
But there’s another issue to consider: Should you change your passwords on a recurring basis? And if so, how often?
Conventional wisdom holds you should change your passwords every month and best practice is to change this on the first of every month.
Use a strong password and perhaps use a Random Password Generator. There are many of these websites and apps available.
Here is a four-point easy to remember guideline.
- Make sure all of your passwords are strong and unique.
- Whenever possible, use some form of two-factor authentication so a cracked password won’t compromise your account. Combining two-factor authentication with machine-generated password.
- Use a password manager so you don’t need to memorize or write down your passwords. Not only will password managers store all of your passwords in an encrypted vault, but they’ll fill them in for you. Password managers will audit your existing passwords, looking for those that are old, weak or repeated, and will generate new passwords for each of your accounts.
- If you think one of your accounts has been hacked, change your password immediately.