Sometimes it appears that there is a “day” for just about everything. For instance, May 3rd is National Bumpy Rug Day. Although it is a little late, I would like to wish you a happy National Password Day which was on March 15th. We all have many devices and online accounts that require passwords. While it is always a good idea to use dual factor authentication and other security enhancements when available, a good, strong password is still at the core of protecting yourself in the digital world. Unfortunately, too many people use common passwords that are too easy for an identity thief to guess and this can lead to identity theft. In addition, many people use the same password for each of their online accounts which puts them in jeopardy when a data breach at just one place provides the password to all of his or her accounts to a cybercriminal.
In addition, many people have security questions that have answers that are too easily researched by an identity thief who can then answer your security question and change your password.
TIPS
It is critical to have a unique and distinct password for each of your online accounts.  This is not as difficult as it may appear.  You can start with a strong base password constructed from a phrase, such as IDon’tLikePasswords that has capital letters, small letters and a symbol, add a few symbols at the end so it may read IDon’tLikePasswords!!! and then adapt it with a few letters for each particular you have so that you will have a secure and easy to remember password for each of your online accounts.   Thus, your Amazon password could be IDon’tLikePasswords!!!AMA.
Security questions are notoriously insecure.  Information such as your mother’s maiden name, which is the topic of a common security question can be readily obtained by identity thieves.  The simple way to make your security question strong is to use a nonsensical answer for the question, so make something like “firetruck” the answer to the security question as to your mother’s maiden name.
Whenever possible use dual factor authentication for your accounts so that when you attempt to log in, a one-time code will be sent to your smartphone to insert in order to get access to your account.  For convenience sake you can set up dual factor authentication so that it is only required if you are logging in from a different computer or device than you normally use. 
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