Securing your NBX access: Passwords and login security

Password security isn’t the sexiest topic, and until you’re affected by a data breach, it is likewise something you don’t spend much time thinking about. Of course, we think about it all the time because, when it comes to securing your assets, trading activity, and identity, companies handling your money and private information have to be obsessive about it.

NBX do everything we can to ensure security and help you take steps to keep yourself secure while using the NBX platform.

But, of course, that requires a bit of help from you. Ultimately if you take an extra moment to develop a solid password hygiene, you save yourself a lot of potential trouble later — and even make password and security management more convenient for yourself.

How NBX handles password security

Within the NBX platform, we want to ensure that your actions and transactions are as secure as possible. Like many other online platforms, we will access information about database breaches and compromised password information.

What this means/looks like within NBX

When you attempt to sign in to NBX, you will be prompted within the platform to change your password if we detect that it has been compromised. The message you will see will look something like this:

Seeing this message upon sign-in does not mean that NBX or your NBX account has been compromised. It simply means that we have detected that the password has been, at some point, used elsewhere in the past and has been flagged as compromised in a public database.

Similarly, if you are trying to sign up for a new NBX account, you might see something like the message below, which warns you that the password you’re attempting to register with has been previously compromised. You will be required to select a different password in order to proceed.

Examples of similar warning messages

You may have already seen similar warning messages elsewhere. For example:

Don’t take a pass on passwords

Data breaches that expose user passwords are one of the most common ways bad actors gain access to devices, accounts and personal/company information. Compromised passwords are usually the result of using weak and/or repeatedly used passwords. We’d all agree that this is bad practice, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing what’s easy.

But what’s easier than adopting a secure password manager to store your passwords, enabling you to implement a strong password and at the same time not to have to remember it?

Several major password managers are available free of charge (others come at a cost), but whether you go for a free or paid password manager, almost nothing can be more of an expensive headache than becoming a victim of a password breach that leads to something like identity theft.

Password best practices

• NBX highly recommend using a random password created by the password manager. The password length should be strong, and include special characters, upper and lower case letters and numbers.
• You should use a separate, unique password for each of your accounts.
• Never share your password(s) with anyone, including supervisors and coworkers.
• All passwords should be treated as sensitive, confidential information.
• Do not use the “remember password” feature in your web browser(s).
• Passwords should be changed when there is reason to believe a password has been compromised.
• All computing devices should be secured with a password-protected screensaver with the automatic activation feature set to 10 minutes or less.
• You should always lock the screen or log off when your device is left unattended.
• Always use two-factor authentication (2FA) when it is available.

As it becomes more common for passwords to be compromised, it’s more important than ever that we work together — NBX and its users — to safeguard personal information. As we harden some of our approaches to security, we hope users too will build their awareness and adopt these best practices as one big step toward securing NBX access and online security overall.