Protect your data with a password

The security of your data depends on several factors: reliability of your computer hardware, backup policy, but also protection against unauthorized access.

The BiblioMaker software allows you to define passwords that are requested when the program is started and thus prevent unauthorized persons from viewing your library data without your consent. This is especially important if you use BiblioMaker in the Cloud.

At first glance, a library's data might be considered less "sensitive" than that of a bank or the police. However, your database contains personal data such as the addresses of your readers as well as their loans: any data leakage could be blamed on you and therefore security should not be neglected.

• For a password to be effective, however, it must not be too easily guessed. Here are a few rules to follow to avoid this danger.

• The password must be long enough. Currently, a minimum of 12 characters is recommended. Indeed, some software used by malicious people to find passwords test thousands of random character combinations per second. The longer the password, the longer it will take to find a password, and therefore a deterrent.

• The password must contain letters and numbers, possibly special characters. Mix upper and lower case letters.

• The password should be easy to remember, but difficult to guess. Therefore, avoid using proper names, common names, a date of birth or a year that could easily be found on your social network account, for example.

• Tip: Think of a sentence and keep only the first character of each word. Example: 2 years warranty on parts and accessories by the Manufacturer in Switzerland would give the password 2ywopaabtMiS

• Another tip: use unrelated words and replace certain characters. Example: gezelle-washbasyn-wutch

If you lack inspiration, random password generators are available on the web.

Various websites (including this one) are also available to check the strength of your password.

Another extremely important rule is not to reuse the same password on different websites. Indeed, it would be enough for your password to be guessed on one site (e.g. Facebook) for an ill-intentioned person to try it on other sites where you might have an account (e.g. Bluewin, Instagram, Gmail, your bank, your health insurer, BiblioMaker, etc.).

Memorizing dozens of different passwords is a real headache, so some software and websites offer "keychains" to store all your passwords. It is obviously important that the software or site you choose is reliable: find out about their reputation. Note that the main web browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari) include a password manager capable of automatically filling in the corresponding field when connecting to a website.

Thanks to these simple rules, you will protect access to your data without complicating your life.