If you are still using the same password for everything...

Or,

Are using a notebook to save your passwords...

Or,

Are using passwords based on memortable things (you name, your date of birth, a family member name, your favourite food, etc)...

THIS BLOG IS FOR YOU.

You are at a risk of getting hacked.

And this can have detrimental effects on your business and livelihood.

Your banking information, your social media accounts, and other logins you have need to be secure.

In this blog I am hoping to open your eyes and awareness on this matter and help you resolve it.

Often, there is really only one thing standing between your sensitive information and criminals - your password.

If they get it, they can get into banks accounts and private files, and wreak havoc. For this reason, it's important to know what makes a password strong and secure.

Chances are, you use passwords everyday.

To open your computer, to log into your favorite websites, to get work done.

The easy route is to have a simple password that works everywhere. Unfortunately, this can be a problem.

Criminals are very good at guessing passwords. Some have computer programs that can make millions of guesses until something works.

And if they already know information about you, it's even easier.

Your job is to create a password that is very hard to guess. Here's how:

Your first thought may be to use a pet's name, a birthdate, an address or parts of a phone number.

These things are too easy for criminals to discover, so don't use them.

Your password should not include info about you.

Thankfully, there are ways to have memorable, but hard-to-guess passwords.

Consider this: In addition to single words, phrases can also be easy to remember.

Maybe it's a favorite song lyric, or quote.

An example is "Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill” That's easy to remember, right?

Well, your password is there - it's the first letter of each word. In this example, this would be your password. That's not something that is easily guessed.

Here's why.

First - it's not in the dictionary. This makes guessing it harder.

There are about 60,000 words in English.

A computer can test out those words pretty quickly, so don't use them.

But there's more.

This password could still be stronger by adding upper case letters, numbers or special characters. So this is a very strong password - but there's still a risk.

If you write it down, be careful where you keep it.

And be aware that someone can look over your shoulder or find it in your trash. Giving it to loved-ones is also risky - they may not be as cautious as you are.

Only you should know your password.

Criminals may also try to fool you into handing it over via phone calls. Never tell anyone your password over the phone.

And be careful when you get an email that asks for a password - it could be a scam.

To help avoid problems, don't use the same password everywhere – that’s like having one key that unlocks everything you own.

The stakes are high if you lose it.

Also, be careful if you use a computer that is not yours.

Let's say you check email using a computer in a store, library or computer lab. You login, check email and walk away.

The next person to use that computer now has access to your email account and all the information in it.

Always remember to log out of each site you visit on a computer that isn't yours.

Passwords are an essential part of life online - and if we're not careful about keeping them secret, they can cause big problems.

By understanding the risks and making passwords stronger, we can feel a little more secure.

When I first started working online in 2017,

I carried a notebook with me.

I had a page where I saved ALL the websites I created an account with along with the username and password.

At the time it was all the new accounts I never had before:

Apple ID for my first iPhone in Nov 2016

Facebook account which I opened in around April/May 2017

Instagram, same time as Facebook

Credit score website

My banking info,

And everything else that you can think of

Yep - just a good old notebook.

And you know how it goes,

I try to create “unique” password.

Things that are familiar.

eran123

eranbucai123

etc 😂

You gotta remember…

Now you might think I know all this stuff about tech and software and apps and so on…

But I was so so new.

I had NO IDEA.

I never heard of a password manager.

So anyway,

I remember one day talking to a friend of mine in the middle of 2017 and he was gonna help me buy a domain name and set up a WordPress site (since I didn't know how to do any of them)

I already had a domain name from GoDaddy so I went to my faithful notebook to find my password.

My friend cracked up laughing 😂 🤦‍♂️

He then told me about password manager,

Showed me how it worked with Safari (he was a Safari fan, not a chrome person), and explained to me what is “KeyChain”, which is the default password manager of Safari.

That was the beginning of me knowing what a password manager is, and that creating unique and impossible to guess passwords and NOT saving them in a notebook is probably a good idea.

Over the year I've progressed and now my password are impossible to guess.

It does not happen overnight.

But as you login to websites, 1 by 1, you get into a routine of fixing your old password and creating new ones which are impossible to guess.

Here is a screenshot from my password manager and how it generates an impossible to guess password.

(No, this is not a password to anything, just create a fake password to give you an idea).

Later, around October 2019, I started building websites for people.

Which required me getting access to their platforms and receive their passwords.

I noticed a common theme.

They were exactly like I was in 2017 with stupid passwords that are based on familiar things which someone can easily guess.

So I already knew this is an issue at that point, but didn't think to do much about it.

Later in early 2021, I started building websites for people on Zoom while they are watching.

There were certain things I NEVER wanted their password for, for example Stripe and PayPal for any payment integrations.

So I had them share their screen and login on their computer and I'd tell them where to click and what to do.

All of a sudden, this problem became so much more glaring to me.

It was more often than not, that someone either had a notebook or they used the SAME password for everything.

At the time, I started telling people about setting up a password manager.

Then around 2022 when I introduced virtual assistants into my tech support membership, I recorded video tutorials on this topic of password manager in order to train my VAs and add this as a value-add to the tech membership.

Here is the video for you to watch:

Here are a couple of tutorials I recorded about secure passwords.

And I'll do a demo with LastPass.

Although there are other password managers like Dashlane and 1Password that will do the job.

A password manager is a software application or service designed to help users securely store, manage, and generate their passwords for various online accounts and services.

In case you wanted a high level overview of the benefits of a Passwod Manager, I wanted to highlight a few key ponts:

If you do not already have a password manager,

If you are still keeping your password in a notebook,

Or are using the same password for everything,

Let's change that - RIGHT NOW.

Sign up to 1Password, Dashlane or LastPass.

If you are in my Tech Support Membership, you can book 1 -on-1 call with my virtual assistants to get help with setting this up from A to Z.

And if you're not in the membership, this is just one of the many benefits available to you in the tech support membership which I encourage you to learn more about.

Thanks for reading!

Go ahead and take action!

Eran Bucai