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Password Day: A reminder to think about security

Posted at 4:39 PM, May 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-06 09:12:06-04

While it fell on Cinco de Mayo this year, in the tech world, every first Thursday in May is set aside to recognize World Password Day — a day to think about beefing up your personal cyber security. 

Experts say if you can't remember the last time you changed your password, it's probably time. 

"You should really change your password every 60 to 90 days," said Ashley Pritchard with cyber security firm Level 3 Communications, who says "password" and "123456" remain the two most commonly used passwords. 

"We encourage people not to use their name, names of children, their pets." said Pritchard, who suggests instead of remembering passwords, think of a passphrase with a dash of encryption.

"I use the phrase, 'Once upon a time,' as an example. You can replace all the O's with zeroes, all the threes with E's, and maybe add a symbol like an exclamation point at the end." said Pritchard. 

A recent study found three out of four people use the same password for multiple accounts, and nearly half haven't changed their passwords in more than five years.