The first Thursday in May is World Password Day, a great reminder to review your passwords and practices. While all computer and mobile device users should think about security, it’s even more critical for the healthcare industry.
Too many people still rely on easy-to-remember words and dates for their logins. Being easy to remember can unfortunately make them easy to guess or crack. How many passwords are built around items you’ve entered into a quiz or post on Facebook? Incorporating numbers and special characters helps. That way, you’re making it more complex and harder to guess.
When you combine unrelated words, numbers, and special characters, you make things more secure. It’s easier to remember GummyHedgehog92174? than e73R@q1.2Y (probably). And it’s not very easy to guess! Stringing together more than two words and longer sequences of numbers is better. Of course, password managers make the job of remembering even easier for you.
A manager like LastPass or 1Password can store everything for you. They can therefore be as long and complicated as you want; you don’t have to memorize them. The manager will even generate complex passwords on the fly. Of course, you don’t want to lose your password (or other login criteria) for the password manager itself! Maybe a second manager to manage the first one…?
Two-factor authentication can strengthen your login security. Authenticator apps from Microsoft, Google, and others will help with the process. Ultimately, it’s in your best interests to secure your data, work and personal, as much as you can. In healthcare, of course, the Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) stored in applications needs to be kept extra safe and HIPAA compliant. Microwize’s managed IT services can lock your network and data up tight! Contact us for more information.