World Password Day Date in the current year: May 2, 2024

Since the advent of the Internet, passwords have become an essential part of our daily lives because today there is hardly anything you can do without an email account. And if your email account gets hacked… well, you’re in a lot of trouble because people who have access to your email can get access to your other accounts (banking, online shopping, social media, dating, etc.) and then use them to impersonate you and commit fraud, or even steal your money.

If you want your valuable information to be protected, your passwords must be as secure as possible. In addition, your should change them every now and then, because passwords occasionally get leaked due to data breaches.

The idea of having a “password day” where you update your important passwords was first voiced by security consultant, author and researcher Mark Burnett in his 2005 book Perfect Passwords: Selection, Protection, Authentication. It remained dormant until 2013, when Intel Security got inspired by Burnett’s proposal and designated the first Thursday of May as World Password Day. Three years later, the creative agency Big Monocle submitted the holiday to National Day Calendar.

The best way to celebrate World Password Day is to assess the strength and security of your passwords, change them if you deem your passwords too weak or think that they might have been compromised, and encourage others to do the same. Here are a few tips on how to protect your important accounts:

• It goes without saying, but do not use the most common passwords that are extremely easy to crack such as “password”, “123456”, “qwerty”, “111111”, etc.
• The longer your password, the better.
• To make your password more secure, make sure it contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special symbols. One of the best ways to create a secure password is to use a sequence of three seemingly random words you’ll be able to remember well and replace some of the letters with numbers and special characters.
• Use different unique passwords for each of your important accounts.
• If you can never remember your passwords, you can write them down, but they shouldn’t be easily accessible to anyone but you, so a sticky note with all your passwords on your monitor is a bad idea.
• Enable two-factor authentication where possible.
• Check if your passwords and emails have been compromised at Have I Been Pwned (haveibeenpwnd.com) and update your passwords if they have.
• Install reputable anti-malware software to protect your accounts from being hacked.
• Do not save your passwords on other people’s computers and always log out from your accounts.

Once you’ve done updating your passwords, don’t forget to share password tips on social media with the hashtags #WorldPasswordDay and #PasswordDay so that others can follow your example and make sure their accounts and sensitive information are properly protected.