5 Effective Ways To Help Your IT Clients Manage Passwords

By D.J. Vogel, Partner, Security & Compliance — Technology, Sikich LLP

Managing passwords can get overly complicated. Here are some tips to remember as an IT solutions provider along with how you can make the process easier for end users.

1. Use Passphrases Instead Of Passwords

While a password tends to be a single word or a short string of characters, a passphrase is multiple words or a phrase that’s generally longer than a password. Pick a phrase that’s personal, but not based on information readily available on social media (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, pet names, etc.).

Passphrases are easier to remember than passwords. This helps prevent users from writing them down or picking weaker passwords, such as those containing a rotating digit (e.g., Password1, Password2, Password3…).

Passphrases also tend to be stronger than passwords. It’s best to use a combination of upper/lower alphabetic characters, numbers, and symbols, but it’s more about key space (the number of all possible options), which means longer passphrases will typically have a higher key space and are therefore harder to crack.

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