CLEVELAND, Ohio — It's the string of letters, numbers and symbols that stand between your personal information and hackers.
On this World Password Day, I want to make sure it's protected.
The goal of the day is to encourage individuals and organizations to prioritize password security by using strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication.
New data from Social Catfish shows that 49% of people's email passwords are currently on the dark web, leaving consumers vulnerable to online scams.
I spoke with Paul Keener, a cybersecurity strategist at GuidePoint Security.
While you may think tricky combinations are your best bet, Keener says most people don't realize it's length that matters more than complexity.
“Have a password that's greater than 16 characters, because hackers have this whole thing where they can go up to that point, they can figure out a password if they can, if they have the data, they can figure out that password less than 16 characters in just a few minutes. And so what you want to do is you want to have a long password,” said Keener.
Keener said that doesn't mean you shouldn't include upper case, lower case, and special characters, because that increases the complexity.
Of course, be sure to change your passwords frequently, and it helps to use a password manager.
