With its warmer days finally forcing winter into submission, spring has long been associated with new beginnings. Grass stretches its roots, pushing through recently thawed soil while fresh buds peek out from branches suddenly full of birds. We, too, have adopted nature’s cyclical pattern, taking a cue from snow’s retreat to dust off our patio furniture and prepare our gardens for a season of growth. As you begin this year’s spring cleaning, we recommend adding something new to your routine: refreshing your old passwords. From your date of birth, to your bank account number, to your Social Insurance Number, just about every bit of data that constitutes your virtual identity is stored behind a password. Essentially the keys to your identity, passwords are rarely treated with the appropriate amount of care. For example, nearly 3 in every 10 Canadians who share passwords have shared the credentials for their banking account, and more than half have shared the password to their email. To best protect your identity, you must commit to defending your passwords with the same vigilance you would the keys to your home or vehicle. So, as you create your to-do list for this year’s spring cleaning, make a note reminding you to update your passwords. Making a habit of changing your passwords can significantly bolster your identity theft protection, and taking just a few minutes to do so could save you countless hours cleaning dealing with the costly effects of identity theft.
Don’t recycle old passwords
As you sit in front of your computer, coming up with a new keyword that meets all of the site’s requirements can seem a tall order. No matter how tempting it might be, it is crucial you don’t opt for a password you previously used for that account or any other. By recycling old passwords, you could make a new account vulnerable if your old login credentials were ever compromised without you knowing. Even worse, if you choose a password that is still associated with another account, you could reward ID thieves who compromise one website with access to your data stored on another.Get creative
Challenged to create a unique password for every site, consumers may also be tempted to use basic passwords that will be easier to remember. While passwords like “password,” the user’s middle name, or his or her spouse’s name may be unforgettable, they are relatively simple for determined fraudsters to guess. To come up with a password that is both easy to remember and complex, try this trick:- Choose a phrase that you will be able to remember, such as a song lyric or statement of fact.
- Create a password using the first letter of each word.
- Change the case of certain letters and replace others with numbers.
- Example: “The professional hockey season starts in October every year” could become “tPh$s!0eY”.
