30DISC – Day 8 – Change Your Passwords

Passwords. Passwords. Passwords!

Today’s challenge – Change Your Passwords – Direct Link to Guide Page

This is one of the most important and most difficult things for people to do: consistently update their passwords. Even I, someone who gets paid to tell people to change their passwords has trouble consistently changing my passwords. I think today’s challenge adds a new element to this equation that might make it just that little bit easier for people to make it happen: don’t do it all at once.

Justin recommends taking the opportunity to change your password for an account the next time you log in, which I think is a great idea. Obviously that means in the first few days there’s going to be a lot of changes with accounts you access frequently (email, Netflix, bank accounts etc) but then there will be a much slower pace as you log into systems that you access less frequently.

Obviously for this to work you need to have completed Day 7 – Install a Password Manager to help you keep track of all your changes, particularly if you’re following the recommendations regarding long, complex and unique passwords. So make sure you have successfully finished that challenge before attempting this one.

Geoffrey: This was both easy and tough for me. Having been a long time password manager user, it was pretty straightforward for me to go in to my accounts and change the passwords and save them. The issue for me was simply the number of accounts that I have to deal with. Which is an important issue, and one we’ll deal with later in the challenge.

Juan: You have never seen a more exasperated man than Juan having to go through this challenge. Whilst he understands the need to do it, it would likely have been easier to get him to hand over his back molars than to get him to do this challenge. I’ve set up calendar reminders for myself to chase him up and make sure he’s actually doing this regularly.

Diana: The expression “duck to water” comes to mind for Diana and this challenge. She really enjoyed logging into her accounts and updating the password manager. Which seemed a bit weird to me but hey, whatever floats your boat right? The really interesting part was seeing the difference in reaction to this challenge by the two halves of a marriage. Fascinating stuff.

Priscilla: Another grudging participant in this challenge, Priscilla has it a little easier in that (she says) she doesn’t have many accounts to change. Whilst I’m not convinced of that, I have to take her at her word on these things. I will certainly be following up with Priscilla at the same time as with Juan.

Previous Days Here:
Day 0 – Introduction to the Team
Day 1 – Installing Operating System and Application Updates
Day 2 – Set Up A Standard User Account
Day 3 – Review Privacy Settings
Day 4 – Setup Private & Secure Email
Days 5&6 – Weekend Project #1
Day 7 – Install a Password Manager