World Password Day: Are You Sure Your Passwords Are Hack-Proof?

123456...Is this your password? If yes, then you are an easy target for hackers lurking around the corner. That's why May 6 is the World Password Day. It is to remind people to take control of their passwords.  

And if you are a person like me who forgets passwords often, kudos, it means you have put up some tough passwords that are difficult to remember! Worry not. People like you and me, who forget passwords often, simply need a good password manager. And hey, don't write your passwords just anywhere.  

In cyber age, passwords are as essential as oxygen  

Passwords have become an integral part of our lives, in fact, a basic digital necessity just like basic human necessities of oxygen, food, and water.  

We use passwords almost everywhere - debit cards, credit cards, net banking, email, health records, smartphones, security alarms, and more. These crypto-keys keep your precious data safe...well...as long as you are intelligent enough to create some tough keys to keep hackers at bay. 

Importance of password in the agriculture community 

Some of you might be wondering why we are talking about passwords on an agricultural website. Well, as mentioned earlier, passwords are used everywhere, irrespective of what field you are. And passwords are used in agriculture too. Farmers use smartphones, keep bank accounts, and also do digital banking. They need passwords too.  

Origin of World Password Day 

World Password Day was launched by Intel in 2013. Since then, the first Thursday of May is celebrated as a day dedicated to passwords of all kinds, sizes, digits, and symbols.   

Significance of World Password Day 

Ever tried to have soup with a fork? It's almost impossible, right? So, a fork is useless for having soup.  

In the same manner, passwords like 123456, 123456789, picture 1 are as useless as a fork for soup. These three passwords have "deserved a special mention" here because they were been picked as the commonest passwords in November 2020, and how useless they are!  

You need no hacker to hack these passwords. An average person can hack them!  

So, this World Password Day, banish such useless passwords from your digital life. Time to create some complex, out-of-the-world passwords that make hackers scratch their brains.   

And please don't use the word "password" as password - it is a cardinal sin in the world of passwords!  

Now for some grave facts: 

As per Acronis Cyber Protection Week Global Report of 2021, 50% of IT professionals and 75% of personal IT users lost data in 2020 due to weak passwords. They exposed their personal information and details of their business and clients to cyber criminals.  

Benefits of World Password Day 

The day is celebrated to urge people to create tougher passwords and to change their old passwords. It is a good idea to keep changing your passwords after a certain time. Both practices help to ward off the data catastrophes.  

A few of the data catastrophes include: 

• Hackers accessing your most sensitive accounts

• Breach of your multiple accounts because you put the same or similar passwords for them

• Loss of data due to too easy or shared passwords

How to celebrate World Password Day 

This World Password Day, pledge to create highly complex passwords that give hackers a dizzy spell. If you haven't changed your account passwords for a long time, do them today. If you think you have an easy password for some accounts, change them today.  

World Password Day 2021 is even more important because, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our lives have become more digital than ever. Even those who never thought of doing digital transactions are doing them now, being locked up in  homes.  

Happy World Password Day!  

Shhh...let's keep some strong secrets!