04.05.2023 - Strong passwords are important, as they protect against unauthorised access to personal and sensitive data. Weak passwords can easily be guessed or hacked, thereby posing the risk of identity theft, fraud and other types of cybercrime.
Password security refers to the creation of secure and unique passwords to protect email and online accounts from unauthorised access.
In order to create a good, secure password, the following tips can be helpful:
- Long:
A strong password should be at least 8, preferably 12 or more, characters long.
- Diverse:
Do not just use lowercase letters. Make full use of your keyboard and use capital letters, numbers and special characters.
- Fortuitously:
Do not use any known words or sequences of numbers that make sense. This means no words as they appear in a dictionary, no names or dates of birth, postcodes, sequences of numbers such as "1234", etc.
- Unique:
Use a different password for each login account. In the event of a password being stolen, only one login account will be potentially compromised and the risk of misuse can be eliminated by changing the password immediately.
- Individual:
Do not use the predefined initial passwords for devices you have bought or acquired, instead create your own complex passwords.
Test your password!
It is possible to test every password's strength.
The Data Protection Officer of the Canton of Zurich has made a password checker available free of charge on the Internet. Enter a similar password to your own (but not the actual password).
Datenschutzbeauftragte des Kantons Zürich: Passwort-Checker
Recommendations for secure password management:
- Never share your passwords with third parties.
- Use a password manager to create and store secure, unique passwords for each account.
- Enable multi-factor authentication whenever possible to add an extra layer of security.
Further Informationen:
Last modification 04.05.2023
