Why we need safe passwords
Why we need safe passwords
What's coming up
Passwords are very important when it comes to staying safer online. Like the keys to your house, passwords help keep you and your valuable information secure, and you shouldn't share them with anyone.
In this activity, you will learn about how your passwords might be lost or stolen, and what you can do to prevent this from happening.
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What can happen when your password is stolen?
If somebody else gets hold of your password, they can use that password to access personal accounts on the websites that you've visited.
For example, someone with your password might access your email.
They might log into your social media accounts and make posts in your name. Or they may log into a shopping site with your account and buy goods.
But don't worry, if you have a strong password and use different passwords for different websites, it is very unlikely someone will steal it.
How your password might be lost
So how might somebody get hold of your password? There are computer programs that will try to guess your password by trying lot of passwords, very quickly. They can even try every word in the dictionary, common passwords and use personal information like birth dates to try and guess a password.
That's why we need passwords that can't be guessed. If you take away the easy guesses, your accounts will be better protected.
Congratulations!
Well done, you've come to the end of the Why we need safe passwords activity.
Understanding why someone might want your passwords and how they can guess them is important. It will make it much easier for you to understand how you make a good password, one that can't be guessed.
In the next activity, Common password mistakes, we'll look at some of the common mistakes people make when creating passwords.