Welcome to the 21st Century
Today, users are bombarded with passwords and pin codes. With the world becoming more and more digital, everyday people are asked to remember more passwords. The problem is that a lot of users become so frustrated with having to remember a large number of passwords, they start developing bad password habits. These bad habits are sure ways to become another statistic in the ever growing number of identify theft cases.
When selecting a password, it is very important to use a random password. By using something that has a meaning to you could result in your password being guessed. Hackers are getting more and more sophisticated at figuring out what kind of password you would most likely use. If a random password is too difficult, try taking two completely unrelated words and putting them together with an unrelated series of numbers in between them. Also, mix up the case of the letters as most password systems are case sensitive.
As for pin codes, most of them are only 4 digits long and have to be numbers. That means there are only 10,000 possible combinations. With today's computer systems, it would take a fraction of a second to break a 4 digit pin code. If you are subscribed to a service that only offers a 4 digit pin code or any type of pin code that is just numeric, you may want to change your code as often as once a month.
It is recommended that you change your passwords often. About every 120 days is the norm for now, but be aware that will most likely decrease as hackers get more and more sophisticated. It is also recommended to never use the same password for multiple systems. For example, using the same password at RIT and at your bank is a big security risk. Should one of your passwords be compromised, then the hacker now has access to both systems.
Also, we feel it is important that you understand that the hacker community has completely changed their mentality from one of causing destruction and interruptions in services to one of profit by gathering information to sell on the black market. Hackers are no longer interested in causing your computer to crash, but rather want to get into your computer through vulnerabilities or through weak passwords to collect information about you to sell. In most cases, people don't know they have been hacked until they start noticing fraudulent transactions on their bank and credit card statements.