As a business owner, you’ve learned that “more complicated” doesn’t always equal “better”. Sometimes keeping things simple is the way to go.

But what about passwords? You’re supposed to choose complicated ones, with letters, numbers, and symbols that are difficult to guess, right? And what about changing them frequently? You’ve probably heard that changing all of your passwords every thirty days is a good idea.

Yes, choosing complex passwords is one way to prevent your accounts from being hacked. But when it comes to changing them, complicated is not always better.

Most of us hold numerous online accounts. In addition to simple things like our WiFi routers and our computers themselves, you might hold online accounts for email, several social media platforms, bank accounts, credit card accounts, and of course your cloud storage. Is it really realistic to expect monthly password changes? In most cases, that just becomes too complicated for anyone to manage. And if you expect employees to switch up their passwords this often, you will likely experience difficulties due to the confusion.

Instead, it’s more important to choose complex, hard-to-guess passwords. Then, change them when the situation warrants:

  • After any security incident
  • When there is evidence of unauthorized access to an account
  • You discover malware or a virus in your system
  • You’ve previously shared access to an account with someone else, and they no longer need access (such as when an employee leaves the company)
  • You’ve logged into an account over a questionable connection (such as over hotel Wifi)
  • You haven’t changed a password in more than a year

Outside of these events, you usually won’t need to worry about routinely changing passwords. But again, complex passwords are a must. Remember to keep copies of your passwords in a secure location, and turn on multi-factor authentication for any account that offers it. This extra step goes a long way toward preventing hacking incidents.

For more information on network security, call us at 888-RING-MY-TECH. We can help you determine whether your network is at risk, and help you take the appropriate steps to secure it.