This Thursday Is World Password Day

Get ready to celebrate. This Thursday, May 5, is World Password Day. Since 2013, password aficionados have chosen the first Thursday in May to highlight an important mission: Change your passwords, and make them strong.

Those in the cybersecurity world preach about the importance of having a strong password. A strong password, essentially, is one that is hard for both a human and a computer to guess. Sure, a human might have a hard time guessing a string of random numbers, but a computer could brute force such a password quite easily.

So, the best passwords introduce the maximum amount of entropy to the equation: That simply means forcing a computer to make as many guesses as possible, increasing the amount of time it takes to theoretically guess your password.

One of the best ways to make a password with a lot of entropy while also making it easy (or easier) to remember is by using two or three random words put together. Three random words in a row, perhaps with some letters swapped for numbers or characters, as well as an underscore here or there, is very difficult for a computer to guess, and keeps your account secure.

Of course, it’s not enough to just have a strong password: data leaks happen, and if your password is leaked, bad actors can use it to break into your account. That’s why it’s so important to have a unique password for every account, but it’s also important to regularly change your passwords. If any of your current ones are compromised, changing your passwords will remove that vulnerability.

That’s what World Password Day is here to celebrate: a reminder to change your passwords, make them strong, and keep your data protected.