Your username matters more than you think
There are various ways in which hackers infiltrate internet users' online accounts, with password and username reuse being among the top attack vectors. There’s good reason why hackers attack users’ usernames and passwords: reuse of weak credentials is far too common:
- 92% of people know it’s a risk to reuse a password for multiple accounts, but 65% of people still do it.
- Hackers can crack a reused, simple, or previously breached password in an instant.
The situation in the business arena is not much better. While some businesses require their employees to change their password once every 90 days, many employees still use the same password – only adding a digit or character to make it different. These habits makes password reuse policies useless.
The previous statistics clearly show the problem of using the same credentials across different online accounts. When approximately 40% of all breaches are caused by hacked credentials, a cybersecurity solution is a must.
The key to solving this problem is using automated tools to generate your online account usernames and passwords. And that's what the LastPass username generator tool does!
What is a username generator?
A username generator is an automated tool for creating usernames based on some criteria set by the user. A username generator tool will help internet users boost their security online by avoiding the pitfalls they fall into when creating new usernames for newly created online accounts. This ensures the generated usernames are unique across all accounts.
How does a username generator work?
A username generator works in two different ways:
- Basic generators: These create random usernames and passwords made of letters and numbers every time a user clicks the generate button.
- Advanced generator: This allows the user to input some criteria to select the username/password combination, such as selecting character length and selecting whether to include special characters, symbols, and lowercase/uppercase.
Why use a username generator?
A random, strong username is a critical means of protecting your personal data online, especially accounts for social media platforms and all business accounts.
Avoid common username mistakes
Unlike passwords, usernames cannot be changed after account creation. People tend to generate easy-to-remember usernames when creating new accounts. While this practice helps with memorization, it poses significant security risks, as usernames can reveal too much about the account holder's personality. Here are common bad practices a username generator can help you avoid:
- Username contains personal information: This can include using your year of birth in the username, like "johnsmith1975," or incorporate a favorite hobby or sport, such as "johnsmith4basketball."
- Username is connected to the account password: Consider using the username "dancemonkey" and the password " takeyourhand." Even if the connection isn’t obvious, a savvy hacker might guess the password by connecting it to the popular song "Dance Monkey" and obtain the password from its lyrics.
- Username is the same for different online accounts: Similar to passwords, you should use different usernames for multiple accounts. For example, if a hacker gets your Instagram username, they could access your other accounts, such as Snapchat, GitHub, TikTok, or Tumblr, if you use the same credentials.
Enhance online security
A username generator facilitates brainstorming unique username ideas that are difficult for hackers to guess using brute-force attack techniques. For example, guessing random words is much harder than guessing what you may select as a username – such as your birth year, favorite sports team, etc.
Protect against identity theft
When users create their usernames and passwords, they often reuse the same ones across multiple websites. If one of these accounts is compromised, all other accounts using the same password are at risk.
A username and password generator helps you create unique passwords that combine special characters, numbers, and uppercase and lowercase characters for each account. With LastPass, whenever you create a new account, we’ll generate a unique username and password for you – we’ll even save it to your vault for when you need to log in again.
Improve privacy
Your usernames tell much information about your personality, making you more susceptible to cyberattacks such as phishing and social engineering. For example, about 3 in 5 US adults use birthdays or names in their passwords, which attackers can easily guess.
Simplify your online experience
Creating a unique username and password for each online account can be daunting, as humans struggle to remember long and complex credentials. By using a username generator tool, you can ensure that each of your online accounts has a unique username, enhancing your security and privacy online.
By using a password manager tool like LastPass, you can autosave new usernames and passwords directly to your password vault. The next time you need to log in, LastPass will autofill your credentials for you, making logins as convenient as possible.
