Betty White Wants You To Change Your [*******] Password Already!

I realized earlier this week that it has been awhile since I posted a reminder about updating the passwords you use for personal and business accounts. As such, let’s get down to it.

It Takes More Than Capitalizing The First Letter Of Your Old Password

Adaptistration People 195The sad truth is most passwords are awful; they are easy for hackers to crack because they are common phrases or numerical sequence like “123456.” And changing your password from “mahlerrox1” to “Mahlerrox1” doesn’t count as an improvement.

Fortunately, improving this part of your online security is easy, just visit a random password generator like the one from LastPass.com and it will do the heavy lifting in milliseconds. Keep in mind, a good password will be comprised of the following:

  • uses at least 15 characters.
  • uses uppercase and lowercase letters.
  • uses numbers.
  • uses symbols.

 

  • isn’t your actual name or account username.
  • isn’t a family member’s name or birthday.
  • isn’t the name of a famous composer or performer.
  • isn’t a word found in the dictionary.

 

Ideally, you’ll begin using a password manager like the one from LastPass.com (they have free and paid versions) but if you really want to get serious, you’ll consider bumping up to multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Not sure what MFA is? No problem, let acting legend and the grandmother everyone wishes they had, Betty White, bring you up to speed.

https://youtu.be/rierJ-3x_L0

https://youtu.be/AJKGrEl_omA

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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