

Want to give your personal data an extra line of defence from hackers? You might consider using some of the methods below.
BEST WAY TO GENERATE PASSWORDS PASSWORD
Keep your data secure and protected with help from all our free scams advice Other password security tips But as with any password manager, you need to create a strong and complex master password – and be vigilant for any social engineering or phishing attacks off the back of the data attack. LastPass is still widely used and trusted.

There are several to choose from, but they all do more or less the same thing – create an encrypted vault that stores all your passwords, generates passwords and in most cases will fill in passwords on websites for you. In most cases they will also generate strong, unguessable passwords and then make sure they’re associated with the right websites. Password managers are programs that look after your passwords for you. What's the best way to store a long list of complex passwords, especially if your memory isn’t quite what it should be? The answer is a password manager. An intruder could not only steal your laptop, they could also get away with your precious passwords, too.

You might live alone, or think you can trust the people you live with, but you might be burgled. We’d strongly recommend that you don’t do this, but if you must, then don’t leave that list lying on your desk: lock it in a safe or in a secure drawer. That said, writing down and keeping secure a list of unique, strong passwords is better than using the same easy-to-crack password on all your websites. It’s tempting to write a list of your passwords and refer to that rather than relying on your memory. Sign up for our Tech newsletter, it's free monthly Use special characters cleverly
BEST WAY TO GENERATE PASSWORDS MANUALS
News, deals and stuff the manuals don't tell you. Again, a passphrase is better than a single password. Many websites have a minimum character count for passwords, but the longer the password you choose, the harder it is for a hacker to crack. It doesn’t even have to be a phrase that makes sense: three random words such as 'umbrella cable kitten' is a decent passphrase. Pick something random that only you know: a good passphrase might be 'Blue dogs walk backwards'. So if your partner’s name is John and his birthday is in August, a bad passphrase would be John was born in August. However, don’t pick a quote that everyone knows because that’s just as easily guessed, and don’t base a passphrase on personal information that others could easily work out. To beat this, use a phrase as your password instead of just one word. Hackers use lists of the encrypted version of the most commonly used passwords (these lists are called rainbow tables). A passphrase is better than a passwordĮven if a website encrypts your password, single words found in the dictionary can be easily cracked. Doing them might seem harmless, but you can't guarantee your data will be safe.
