Passwords, Logins and Keeping an Account Yours
An account is only as private as the way into it. Length beats cleverness in a password, one password reused spreads a single break across every account, and a second factor stops most of what is left.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Say why a long passphrase is harder to guess than a short password with symbols in it
- Explain what goes wrong when the same password is used on several sites
- Describe what a second factor adds, and name something it does not protect against
1 · Read
A password proves you own your account. It guards mail, games and chats. Attackers guess easy picks like pet names and 123456. They trick you with fake pages.
Length beats tricks. Each new letter grows the guesses a thief must try. A long line of plain words cracks far slower than one short word with marks. Pick long words easy to remember.
Never reuse one password. If one site breaks, thieves walk into your other accounts with the same key. Keep each account on its own key. Never share keys with anyone.
Use a second factor where you can. That means two proofs. Something you know, something you have, like a code on a parent's phone. The third kind is something you are, like a fingerprint or face. Guard both, since tricks can steal codes and an open phone gives both away.
Go long, keep each key apart, and add a second proof.
The rewritten readings were written for this dataset.
More to read
Strong passwords
A password is a way of proving that yes, you are really the person who owns this account. Passwords protect almost everything private we have online: email, games, chats with friends, and much more.
Because passwords guard so much, attackers are always trying to figure them out. Here are the most common tricks:
* Guessing. People often pick easy passwords like a pet's name or 123456, and attackers try those first. * Brute-forcing. A computer program tries millions of passwords very fast until one works. Short passwords fall quickly, because there just aren't many short combinations to try. * Tricking you. Sometimes an attacker simply asks for your password with a fake message or a fake login page.
The good news: length is your best friend. Every extra letter makes the number of possibilities grow a lot, so a long passphrase made of a few ordinary words is much harder to crack than a short password with a couple of symbols. Pick something long that you can remember, and never use the same password on two different sites.
Multi-factor authentication
A password is the most common way to prove who you are online, but it is not the only way, and it is not the safest. If an attacker learns your one password, that single piece of information is all they need to get in.
A safer way is multi-factor authentication. That means the site asks for more than one kind of proof before it lets you in.
There are three kinds of proof:
* Something you know, like a password. * Something you have, like your phone or a special key device. * Something you are, like your fingerprint or your face.
With multi-factor authentication, even if someone steals or guesses your password, they still cannot log in, because they do not have your phone that receives the special code. That second layer stops most common attacks.
It is not magic, though. It cannot stop someone from tricking you into giving them both your password and your code, and it does not protect you if you hand your unlocked phone to a stranger.
Keeping your online details private
You can enjoy useful online activities while protecting your accounts and private details.
Choose a long password that is hard to guess. Numbers, symbols and both capital and small letters can help. Give each account a different password. Otherwise, someone who steals one password could use it to enter your other accounts.
Keep passwords private. Do not give them to friends or people in game chats.
Strangers online should not receive details such as your address, school or full name. Pause before opening a message link, even if the sender seems to be a friend. A message requesting your password is usually trying to trick you.
Protecting and recovering a game account
Someone may try to take your game account by tricking you into revealing your password. Keep it private. Game staff should not request it through chat or messages.
Watch for people in chatrooms who pretend to work for the game or offer prizes for your login details. Offers of free pets, coins or rare items may lead to a fake page that sends your password to a thief.
If someone takes your account, visit the game's official website promptly. Use its password-reset service and ask the support team for help. Choose a long replacement password that differs from the stolen one. This reduces the chance of another break-in.
Making accounts harder to break into
No habit can prevent every online attack, but you can reduce the risk.
Choose long, hard-to-guess passwords with letters, symbols and numbers. Use a different one for each website or app. Enable two-factor authentication when available. It adds another check if someone steals your password, though it cannot stop every attack.
Install updates for your apps and devices because they repair security weaknesses. Set a passcode on your computer and phone to keep other people from opening your accounts.
Take care when using public Wi-Fi. Avoid entering passwords on pages opened through suspicious links.
2 · Watch
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Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Optional connections
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.