Home security doesn’t just mean locking your doors and windows – protecting your digital devices (phones, computers etc) with strong passwords is also important to keeping yourself and your personal data safe.
Perhaps you received a new phone or laptop at Christmas, or you want to help keep your family members digitally safe. Creating a strong password doesn’t need to be complicated. Using three simple steps, you can protect your devices and digital data…
Create a separate, strong password for your email. Your personal email account contains lots of important information about you and is the gateway to all your other online accounts, including banking, social media and online shopping. If your email account is hacked, all your other passwords can be reset, so it’s important to use a strong password for your email, that is different to all your others.
Use 3 random words to build your password. Using three random words is the recommended way of generating passwords, as it’s easier to remember and takes trillions of years for a computer algorithm to crack. Remember to not use obvious words like your surname or the names of your pets!
Use 2 factor or multi-factor authentication on your devices. Two-factor authentication is a free security feature that gives you an extra layer of protection online and stops cyber criminals getting into your accounts even if they have your password. Two-factor authentication reduces the risk of being hacked by asking you to provide a second factor of information, such as getting a text or code when you log in, to check you are who you say you are.
Visit the Neighbourhood Watch website for more advice on building strong passwords to protect your digital devices!
