How Safe are Your Passwords?

Nowadays, being “on the grid” refers to much more than our culture’s reliance on public utilities and municipalities. With the dawn of the digital age, all of your personal and private information is interconnected through an intricate web of virtual databases. Phone numbers, addresses, photos, affiliations, memberships and accounts are all accessible with a few clicks … spooky stuff.

It’s important for you and your credit union’s employees, both personally and professionally, to keep personal information protected. While in theory most people will agree, in practice we can display some pretty bad habits.

SplashData compiles an annual list of millions of stolen passwords made public throughout the year. In case you haven’t seen it, here are the most recent top 25 passwords in order of popularity:

1) 123456	14) abc123
2) password	15) 111111
3) 12345	16) mustang
4) 12345678	17) access
5) qwerty	18) shadow
6) 123456789	19) master
7) 1234	20) michael
8) baseball	21) superman
9) dragon	22) 696969
10) football	23) 123123
11) 1234567	24) batman
12) monkey	25) trustno1
13) letmein

Protect your information

Here are a few simple tips for creating a stronger password:

• Make sure it’s at least eight characters long
• Include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols
• Love pizza? Have a favorite pet? Born in January? Nice to know, keep it out of your password! Don’t include details that people know about you or is publicly attainable
• Use multiple passwords – if one gets cracked, at least the others didn’t
• If you write it down or keep it in a document, make sure to keep it hidden
• Don’t give it out to anyone else

Take the time to come up with a good password and protect it. It's an investment that only takes a few minutes, and is well worth it!

Looking for guidance with online security or in need of reliable hosting? CU Solutions Group can help! Contact us today.