Last Friday, February 1st, was "Change Your Password Day" in Germany. The day when we are all supposed to feel encouraged to pay attention to the security of a password. Actually a good, an important topic. And that's why there will be another "Change Your Password Day" on February 1st, 2020.
This action day has existed since February 1, 2012. It started as the American Change Your Password Day (often just "Change Your Password Day"), launched back then by the American web portal GIZMODO.
This is what "Change Your Password Day" is all about
What's behind it sounds logical – and we all actually know it: A password generally serves to authenticate a user and should only be known to the user himself. "Change Your Password Day" is about highlighting the importance of secure passwords and making it clear to every internet user once again to change existing passwords into secure ones.
If you're not entirely sure how to do that: We also have an article on "How to create a secure password" on our homepage and also the Identity Inspector, a software that checks email addresses for data leaks. No question: It's always a good idea to critically review your own access data.
A day for strong passwords would be more important
Unfortunately, some aspects are completely neglected on the worldwide "Change Your Password Day." Because actually, it should be a "Better Passwords Day" or a "Strong Passwords Day." Changing all passwords once a year is pointless if you change "test123" to "test1234." By the way, there is a worthwhile comment on this:
https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Kommentar-Der-Aendere-dein-Passwort-Tag-ist-gut-gemeinter-Unsinn-4293393.html
In addition, all well-intentioned advice and tips always only concern the user himself. "Change Your Password Day" was only introduced because companies like Dropbox, AOL, or Adobe have handled user data too carelessly in the past. These companies should all check whether all stored data is even needed! Hello Facebook!
Furthermore, a "Delete Your Data Day" would also make sense. How many accounts have been created in the last two decades that nobody uses anymore? Countless! These accounts have often been idling for years on servers that are now almost unprotected and now pose a real security risk. Why? A very clear answer: Even today, users still use the same passwords for their accounts as they did back then. Once one on an unprotected server is cracked, it is often frighteningly easy for hackers to assign other accounts to this user. And boom! Now the remaining accounts are also hacked...
