Password management is a huge part of HIPAA security. Do you have a password management policy in place? Hackers are constantly finding ways to trick you into giving them your password. They find new ways every day to scare you, and get you to provide information to them. Below are 5 easy tips for taking care of, and securing your password.

Password Management

 

  1. Long passwords – Mostly, you are playing the odds. The longer the password is, the longer it will take a hacker (or their decryption software) to run through all the possible permutations and hack your password. More characters means more security!
  2. Use many characters – Use as many numbers, capital letters and symbols as you can. This will definitely take the hacker more time to decrypt your password. They may even give up.
  3. Make your password unique – Although it is easy for you, using the same password for all your sites is not a good idea. If one site gets compromised, they now have the keys to the Kingdom. That will be very dangerous for you.
  4. The details – Do NOT use your birthday, your child’s name, you address, etc. These are “no brainers” for hackers. Your birthday may be on Facebook or other social media types. Your phone number, address, etc. could be online somewhere. You never want to use this information as your pin codes or passwords.
  5. Consider a password manager – There are plenty of password managers that can help you store your passwords securely, online, in one trusted location.

Pay attention to your passwords. You may not realize how someone hacking your password could cause a lot of damage, and put you in full blown out chaos. Don’t make it easy for them, and don’t be lazy. Good password management is the key to good security.

 

Tier3MD is an IT support group for medical practices, headquartered in Atlanta, GA