This article provides information on how to keep your NI account safe from cybercriminals.
Password cracking tools have become increasingly sophisticated, and without using a strong password, an account can easily be accessed. Below are some tips for creating secure passwords:
- Choose complex passwords - one that combines words, numbers, special characters, as well as capital and lower-case letters. A longer password is more secure. Each character added to a password makes it more difficult to attack.
- Don't use the same password for all your online accounts - if you have an account at a website and it gets hacked, all your online accounts could be compromised. A unique password is expecially important for your email account.
- Qwerty is not a good password - nor is "123456" or similar adjacent keyboard character combinations. "Password", the name of your network, pets, family members, birth-dates, etc., should also not be used.
More tips and information on password security can be found on the Microsoft website for Windows users, or Apple's website for macOS users.