If you are a small business owner, it means you are constantly acquiring data, not only important personal information for you and your business, but also your clients. Think of all of the personal and financial details you collect from clients, vendors, contractors, and employees.
Cyber crimes happen more and more from hacking a computer to email scams; one wrong move and all of that data is shared with cyber criminals. Not only have you put yourself in harm’s way, but you risk losing your client’s trust, lawsuits, and damages as well. Now more than ever, it is very important to protect your business from data cyber theft.
Most of your cyber security comes down to having strong passwords. Choosing passwords poorly tends to be the main weak point in a company’s online security. If you are wondering what some of the worst passwords are that you should not be using, here are the top 7 to avoid.
- Password
Believe it or not, this is probably the number one most common password and worst possible choice. Yes, it might be easy to remember, but it is also one of the first things hackers always try. This includes variations of the word as well, for example: p@ssword, passwords123, Passw0rd!.
- QWERTY
Similarly, to “password” being easy to remember, so is QWERTY, which is often why people choose to use this one as well. If you are unaware, QWERTY is simply the top left keys of a keyboard. Again, this is one that hackers will often try right away. Avoid using any sequence of keyboard letters.
- Number Sequences
Whether it is 12345, 6789, etc. you should not use a sequence of consecutive numbers either. As stated above, the same goes for consecutive letters. Another form of sequential numbers you should not use are 00000, 33333, 99999, you get the picture.
- Your Business Name
Using your business name, or similar variations of it are also among some of the first ones that cyber criminals will try. For example, if your business is called Bob’s Carwash, you should not make your password any of the following: BobsCarwash!, BobsCarwash123, BobsCarwash1!, etc. In general, your name is an easy thing for them to use as they already have access to that.
- Business Address
Do not attempt to use any form of this either, as it is yet another piece of information that is easily accessible. You do not want to use the street name or numbers in any way, ie. 1234StateStreet.
- Date of Birth
While this one might seem not as easy for a hacker to obtain, the internet makes things like birthdates fairly easy to find as well, or really any dates: the date you started your company, the date of your anniversary, and many more. Be careful when choosing to use a date of any sort for a password that is not obscure.
- Simple Words
What do we mean by simple words? Specifically words that are somehow related to your business market, products, or services. So, if you own a wedding boutique you wouldn’t want to make words such as bride, groom, cake, veil, bachelorette, or anything similar your password.
So the next question is, what should we use as a password?
A good place to start is to think of a phrase or security question. For example, your favorite book. Which could be Harry Potter and it came out in 1997. Once you have that, you want to incorporate numbers and symbols as well. So you could create something like: HarryP0tter!=1997. That way it is not random, but also not something a hacker would know very easily.
At the end of the day, try to avoid these 7 common password mistakes and better protect yourself and your clients from cyber crimes.
Do you have a problem coming up with secure passwords and want some advice? We are here to help! We can be reached at 310-534-5577 or [email protected].
Find more information from the source of this article here: https://sba.thehartford.com/business-management/managing-risk/7-passwords-you-should-never-use/?cmp=EMC-SC-SBA-10290027&eml=1
