The thing is, in all likelihood, this isn’t actually doing anything to help your security.

It’s just the way the advice has been presented.

But that’s likely because it’s anticipating and responding to bad security habits.

After all, if no one knows your password, why change it?

Still, passwords are cracked all the time.

So might as well keep those bad actors on their toes.

But let’s take a step back: There’s no reason any of your passwords should be guessable.

A good password, meaning one that is both strong and unique, is inherently uncrackable.

It should be long, varied, and not in use on any other account.

“Lifehacker” takes eight seconds to crack.

“Lifehackerdaughtcalm” takes centuries.

There’s no need to change that password in a year.

There’s no need to change that password periodunless you’re presented with an actual threat.

When to change your password

I’m not saying you should never change your password.

You should definitely change it if other people know about it.

In that case, you should change your password ASAP.

Of course, data breaches aren’t the only times good passwords are discovered.

Malware is another threat to look out for.

But barring an actual reason to do so, you don’t need to bother with switching it up.

To be clear, you’re not hurting your security by changing your passwords.

Security tips that won’t waste your time

Want some real security gains?

Store all those strong and unique passwords in asecure password manager.

That way, you only need to remember one strong and unique passwordthe master key to your password manager.

In addition, use two-factor authentication (2FA) whenever possible.

2FA requires a trusted gear for secondary authentication after providing the correct password.

(Just prioritize an authenticator app or security key over SMS authentication.)

If it’s an option for your accounts, you may want to explorepasskeys over passwords, too.

That way, there’s no password to steal.

As long as you authenticate yourself on the devicesay, through Face ID or a PINyou’re in.

Stay secure out there.