To protect your identity, reputation and even your savings account, as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you need to strongly manage your online passwords.
Very often people make one, or both, of these critical errors:
- They pick a password that is easy for someone to guess.
- They use the same password for many different websites.
Let’s look at each error in more detail.
Easy to Guess Passwords
When I was an IT director at a large company in Houston, this was one of the most common issues I ran into. If I knew just a few personal details about someone, I could guess their password more often than not.
If they had pictures of their kids all over their office, they most likely used some form of their kid’s name. If they had Notre Dame stuff on their desk and walls, their password usually was related to the Fighting Irish football team.
Here are the most common bad password ideas:
- Words that one can find in a dictionary (nurse, hospital, attorney, etc).
- Sequential sets of numbers or letters such as “asdfghj” and “123456.” These are sequences of letters/numbers that are next to each other on the keyboard.
- The same letter repeated over and over again (nnnnnn or 111111).
- Your pet’s name.
- Your own name.
- Your spouse’s name.
- Your child’s name.
- Your grandchild’s name.
- Your favorite hobby, sports team or recording artist.
- Your birthday or anniversary.
Using the Same Passwords Across All Websites
Let’s say you have a great password that no one could ever guess. In fact, it’s so good, you use it for all your website accounts.
One day, you have an issue with one of the sites, and call their technical support. They ask you for your password to walk you through the issue. You give it to the tech support rep.
Now there’s another person out there in the world that can access all of your personal accounts, change the password and contact information on your account and wipe you out. Most companies have some security in place to help prevent bad things like this from happening, but you should make it as difficult as possible for the bad guys.
The Solution
I use a site called PassPack to help manage my passwords.
You can store all your passwords securely, generate hard-to-crack passwords, and automatically log on to websites that you have stored passwords with…and it is totally FREE. Go here to sign up.
Although, everything is pretty much self explanatory, and you should have no problems signing up or using the site, you can find detailed instructions, and plenty of articles in their knowledge base to walk you through any issues.
Passpack can also suggest passwords for you. Just click the “Suggest” button when filling out the entry details for a particular site. You’ll need to make sure you update the site with this new password.
I have had no issues with PassPack so far. I have changed all my passwords and manage all of them through this site. However, I do recommend that you print out each password and store it in a safe place (like a home file system, or safe), in case PassPack disappears one day, you still have your passwords in one place.
Seinfeld fans probably remember the classic episode where Kramer guesses George’s ATM code…just by knowing a little bit of personal information about him. It’s a funny scene, and not too far off from how people can really guess your password.
P.S. Have you ever had a password problem or had an account hacked? Share your story in the comments to help other CLNC® consultants prevent a similar thing happening to them.
Guest Blogger Profile
Brian Horn is an Internet marketing consultant who specializes in search engine marketing, site optimization, social media marketing, link building and web data analytics. Brian has consulted with Vickie Milazzo Institute for over three years.
Brian also speaks at seminars and conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada on how to use the Internet to improve business.
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