{"id":6072,"date":"2020-04-09T12:30:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T19:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xmission.com\/blog\/?p=6072"},"modified":"2020-05-13T09:15:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T16:15:01","slug":"online-security-for-kids-using-fun-passwords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xmission.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/09\/online-security-for-kids-using-fun-passwords","title":{"rendered":"Online Security for Kids: Using Fun Passwords"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Now more than ever, our children\u2019s lives are dominated by digital devices and social media platforms. Online education for most K–12 students is the new norm as even young children spend hours a day online.<\/span><\/p>\n

With this new way of life, some well-intentioned educators are instructing students to use insecure passwords with personally identifiable screen names, and, even worse, are sometimes requiring students to use the same username and password credentials for multiple accounts. Unfortunately, many educators are unaware of <\/span>online security best practices<\/span><\/a>. This means it is important for parents to confirm that the credentials provided by their school are sufficiently secure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kids spending more time online plus a lack of security training can be a dangerous combination. Google reports <\/span>phishing and fraudulent sites are up 350%<\/span><\/a> in recent months. This means \u201chackers\u201d are working as hard to get your child\u2019s personal information as they are to get yours. When a hacker gets a child\u2019s credentials it often means they now have access to the child\u2019s personal information, access to their friends, and access to family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We encourage <\/span>parents to take an active role<\/span><\/a> in teaching their kids best practices for creating <\/span>unique screen names with secure passwords<\/span><\/a> to protect their personal information online. Many parents are just learning how to use online tools themselves, giving them an opportunity to learn as they help their children. <\/p>\n

To help you meet these goals, here are some kids\u2019 essentials for good password security:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Never share.<\/b> Teach your children to never share their password with anyone but you or an approved guardian. Whenever they do share a password, they need to tell you with whom, when, and why.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Be unique.<\/b> Make sure your children create unique usernames and passwords for each account.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Make it fun!<\/b> Kids love random words that are funny to them. Leverage this to create long, memorable, and secure passphrases. The general rule is that<\/span> longer is safer<\/b>. Start with three words, then have the kids spice it up with numbers, characters, and lowercase and uppercase letters. Decide on the funniest letter in the middle of one word to make uppercase. Here are examples of ok passwords: <\/span>nachos4bunny-faRts!\u00a0 elMo-2nose!pick<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n
  4. Avoid simple. <\/b>Some online educational systems provided by the schools are outdated and have limited password options. In those cases, remind children to avoid using simple or common dictionary words, names, dates, numbers only, or obvious choices such as <\/span>12345678<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>password,<\/span><\/i> or sequential keystrokes such as <\/span>qwerty789<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Skip common misspellings.<\/b> Don\u2019t replace\u00a0 \u201ca\u201d with \u201c@\u201d or \u201ci\u201d with \u201c1\u201d or \u201c!\u201d. Teach them why that makes a b@dp@ssword. (Hint: It’s super easy to guess!)<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Change short passwords often<\/b>. Short passwords (8\u201312 characters) should be changed at least two to three\u00a0times per year. Longer passwords (13\u201324 characters) can be changed yearly, and really long passwords (25\u201364) almost never need to be changed.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Never re-use passwords.<\/b>\u00a0Please remind kids it is not safe to re-use passwords, even if they no longer use an existing password on another website.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Password manager.<\/b> Password managers keep you safer, but sadly most US schools do not allow the use of password managers. If your school does, please remind kids to use their app consistently and make their master password difficult to crack.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Giving your kids a solid foundation of online security practices<\/a> now will limit their risks of identity and personal information theft as they grow. Understanding online best practices and proper screen name and password-protection measures will significantly lower risk factors and help keep their information safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Please read our other posts on passwords and online security.<\/p>\n