You need to change password often recommended keeping your accounts safe, with some companies enforcing them every 3-4 months. We’ll put this myth at rest and show you why changing your all password often doesn’t make it more secure.
Prevailing wisdom states that you should change your passwords regularly to keep hackers off-kilter and continuously struggling to access your data. These password changes are often advised by the IT professionals to keep your account safe and your data secure.
Although it may sound sensible, it’s not as accurate as people would like to believe in it. The reality is that changing your password frequently makes you weaker to data gaps and hackers than choosing a strong password in the beginning and leaving it alone.
Forced password changes
Even though it’s your password, some companies have such type of policies that require you to change it every 30, 60, or 90 days. They work under the assumption that changing passwords constantly will keep your data secure. If your password is changed regularly, it ensures that anyone who has unauthorized access to your account can’t maintain it for a very long.
Sadly, enforcing frequent password changes for security reasons can fail. These password changes can be used at the worst possible moment: when you’re timing in or out for the day, trying to access your weekly time card the day, or just trying to get into your emails and social media. Pressed for timing and facing an account lockout, people fall into a predictable pattern for creating a new password. The passwords chosen are simple, incredibly easy to remember, and often go up in regular order because they only change the number or special character that’s tacked on the end.
These simple and predictable password patterns are easy for hackers to hack, leaving your data far more vulnerable and insecure than it would be safe if you generated a strong password once which includes a capital letter, one number, special symbols and stored it securely in your password manager.
When you should change your passwords
Although you don't need to change your password regularly, there are particular times when it’s necessary to change your password for security reasons. The correct time to change your password is when a website you have an account for is arbitrated in a data breach. Data breaches are alarmingly obvious, and you should take the right decision to protect yourself and your information from outsiders.
Watchtower, a type of security feature built into 1Password, keeps you informed every time about password breaches and other security problems for the websites you’ve saved in 1Password. We monitor things from time to time for you and update Watchtower whenever we find a security breach, so you can change your passwords right at the moment.
If any security breach is proclaimed, Watchtower adds an alert banner to the item and notify if you haven’t changed your password since the breach. It also alerts you to any weak passwords that have been exposed in a data breach. Although a hacker may not know that you’ve used that password, let it be alone which site you used it on, it’s among the first passwords they’ll try in a password reuse attack.
However, not all the password changes will be tied to a data breach. Whether you’ve shared your login details with your friend or ex-partner, log in through an insecure network, or suspect that your device was compromised, it will be a good idea to change your password. While these don’t guarantee your passwords were not leaked, it’s much better to be safe than sorry.
How to generate strong passwords
Creating a unique password for each website you face can be mentally demanding if you’re trying to do it all on your own risk. It’s tempting to use muscle memory and slide back into the habit of using the same password each and everywhere. But you should try to hold the urge because the more random and unique your password will be, the stronger it will be. And strength always equals security.
Watchtower helps you review your passwords, quickly identifying any weak or reused passwords that need to change. After a couple of days, the password is identified, 1Password makes it easy for you to create a new one. The Strong Password Generator allows helps you to create strong, unique passwords that fit even the actual password requirements. You may set a specific password length and0adjust the number of digits and symbols you need in your password. All you have to do is click to generate a new one and then save your new password.
The best part of it is that you don’t even have to memorize the password. 1Password will always securely store it for you – and even fill it with your single click.
Other steps to secure your accounts
We know you want to keep your data and accounts as safe as possible, and we also want to help you to achieve that goal. In addition to your Master Passwords and Secret Keys, you can also enable multi-factor authentication in your accounts, ensuring your 1Password data is for you only.
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