July 24, 2025
Categories: Education & Security
By Dawn Kellogg
Compromised credentials can lead to unauthorized access to your online banking accounts and other sensitive information, and could lead to financial loss, and identity theft. It’s essential to take proactive steps to secure your passwords in order to safeguard your personal information.
Tips to Improve your Password Hygiene:
- Use Strong Passwords: Create long and complex passwords with a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Longer passwords (20+ characters) are considered more secure.
- Avoid using Personal Information: Do not use easily guessable information within your password such as birthdays, family or pets’ names, company name, or your address.
- Make Unique Passwords: Avoid using the same password across multiple accounts. If one account is compromised, then the others will likely be compromised as well.
- Regularly Update Passwords: Change your passwords periodically and immediately if you suspect any compromise.
- Enable and Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Add an extra layer of security by enabling MFA on all available accounts. Use MFA with an authenticator app (Microsoft or Google Authenticator Apps are common) for improved security versus SMS or email codes.
- Utilize Password Managers: Consider using a password manager to securely store and generate strong passwords. There are reputable solutions that help generate strong and unique passwords and store passwords securely for you.
- Be Wary of Phishing Scams: Always verify the source before clicking on links or providing credentials through an email, app or pop-up. Even when you know the source of messages, it’s best practice to double check before providing payment information or your credentials to anyone online or over the phone.
Your account security is our top priority. We encourage you to take a moment to review and reset your passwords to ensure your accounts remain protected.
The Summit FCU provides many helpful resources on our website to educate and help you protect your accounts and identity. Please visit summitfcu.org to learn more, or contact our Member Services with any questions.