Today is an important day for you if you use 12345 for all of your passwords.

The Better Business Bureau across Canada is recognizing the second annual National Password Day as part of Fraud Prevention Month. The BBB says it's an opportunity to remind businesses and consumers of the importance of password security.

John Rollingson is the Manager and IT Technician at Airdrie Computers. He thinks having strong passwords are a must.  

"Nowadays the strength and power of your passwords can't be understated. It's usually the first, and probably the best defence against keeping yourself and your information assets secured from unwanted sources."

Rollingson outlined some of the common mistakes of picking passwords. "Using your pet's name, your spouses name, your last name. Even things that are near and dear to you that people could find out easily by a quick search on social media. You don't leave clues laying around that people could use to figure out a password. It needs to be something obscure and unrelated to you that nobody would be able to guess."

As far as the 12345 passwords go, Rollingson says passwords should be at least eight to 12 characters long. "Include things like capital letters and a combination of symbols and numbers that can help to increase the security. I'd also recommend using different passwords for different sites."

Rollingson strongly suggests changing your passwords on a regular basis. "I'd say you should do it every one to three months."

And today, on National Password Day, would be a great day to do it.   

 

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