This is a constant question: Do we often change the passwords we use?
You would normally expect the FBI to provide effective tips better safetys, but a tweet he posted recently has many security experts wondering if this is the case after all.
Specifically, the FBI on November 25 sent a tweet-tip to help (supposed) Internet users to stay safe.
“Shopping online at the festive season? Keep your accounts secure, use strong passwords and change them frequently, ”the FBI says.
Shopping online this holiday season? Keep your accounts secure, use strong passwords & change them frequently. #cyber # Blackfriday pic.twitter.com/56a9VmIqxv
- FBI (@FBI) November 25, 2016
Secure accounts using strong passwords are really good advice, but the last part of the proposal has sparked controversy. Frequent password change is often described as a bad practice, because if you do it repeatedly it can eventually lead you to the use of easy codes that can be quickly broken by hackers.
In addition, it is proven that companies that force their employees to constantly change their passwords are more exposed to attacks for the same reasons: workers end up using simpler passwords that are easier to remember something that is not safer practice.
So security experts challenged the FBI tweets, and Per Thorsheim was one of those who recommended exactly the opposite.
In a statement to Motherboard, Thorsheim explained that changing passwords frequently shouldn't be done, and that there are other ways to stay secure on Internet.
"I'm amazed and sad to see the FBI continue to give such advice when credible academic surveys, numerous organizations, companies and the US government itself have been reporting for at least half a year now that frequent changing passwords is a bad idea. ”
"Although I don't know which of the FBI has control of their Twitter account, it does seem to be unaware of current best practices."
So how can you protect yourself online without changing passwords often?
The easiest way is to use a password manager that can create and “remember” complex passwords that are difficult to crack. Of course there are many password managers such as LastPass, 1Password, RoboForm etc, but store the passwords in the cloud.
Our tip: Prefer one offline password manager like him KeePass. This particular administrator is free and stores your passwords locally using strong encryption.
In addition, be sure to enable two-factor authentication on any service that has the security feature and avoid using the same passwords across many services.
