MANAGING YOUR PASSWORDS

Passwords are just long or short strings of characters typed onto a keyboard from memory.You use passwords in withdrawing cash from ATMs, in paying for goods and services in Nigeria and abroad; also to log in to your facebook account or any other social media sites such as twitter, linkedin etc;When you join an organisation that is IT driven, to log in to the companies environment, you must be authenticated with a password; You use them when checking mails especially on Yahoo, others include Hotmail, Gmail and a list of other email supporting sites; you also use it in managing your websites.

Consequently, it could be said that passwords are the key to the essence of locking the doors to the vast opportunities that are embedded in utilizing modern day technologies.Passwords are the most common form of authentication in Nigeria, at the same time, they are the weakest form of authentication.

Password attacks have become ubiquitous that in less than five seconds, your password can be compromised, and whatever happens after that is history. No matter how many passwords are used, multiple passwords are ultimately no stronger than any single password by itself. It will be pertinent to inform you that longer and more complex passwords will take more time and more processing power, but this does not change the fact that your password can't be surmised.

If 50% of Nigerians have access to ATM cards, suffice it to say that those percentage of Nigerians are vulnerable to losing their money at one point or the other due to password compromise or negligence; If 15% Nigerians are using facebook and 30% are using Yahoomail, it thus means that someday, these set of Nigerians might lose access to personal information in their mail box, perhaps they might become a victim of identity theft whereby a criminal takes up their identity.

To avoid this eminent danger that's looking at us, we must change the way we create and manage passwords.(Please read How to Create passwords on this Blog).
1. Do not use Dictionary words as your password.
2. Do not write passwords on paper or store them anywhere.
3. Memorize your passwords.
4. Do not use names as passwords.
5. Always include non-alphabetic characters such as £, $, & in your passwords.
6. Do not use the same password you use to log in to your Yahoomail for your facebook account.
7. Change passwords as often as possible.
8. Never give out your password or password hint on any website, other than the website its been used for.