In a nutshell
- 🔄 Experts advise against routine rotation; adopt a risk-based approach: change after breaches, device loss, phishing, or privilege changes, while keeping passwords long, unique, and protected by MFA.
- 🧠Practical schedule by account type: most personal accounts don’t need timed changes; privileged admin accounts may rotate every 60–90 days; act immediately on alerts and policy requirements.
- 🚨 Spot compromise fast: unexpected MFA prompts, unfamiliar logins, new forwarding rules, or odd behaviour; respond by changing passwords, resetting MFA, revoking sessions/tokens, and scanning for malware.
- 🛡️ Build strength first: use a password manager, create 16–24+ character passphrases, enable app-based MFA or passkeys, use random answers for “security questions,” and avoid reuse.
- 🧰 Change safely and govern well: verify URLs, avoid public Wi‑Fi, regenerate backup codes, document changes to privileged accounts, comply with PCI DSS where applicable, and audit access regularly.
We’ve all heard the old rule: change your passwords every 30 days. It felt tidy. Disciplined. Safe. But the world of digital security has moved on, and the evidence is clearer than ever. Blindly rotating passwords can do more harm than good, pushing people toward weaker choices and predictable patterns. The smarter approach is risk-based: change when there’s a reason, and invest in stronger, layered defences. In this definitive guide, we explore when to switch credentials, how to spot danger, and the practical schedule that fits real life. Expect clear steps, a quick-reference table, and advice tailored for the UK context.
What the Experts Say About Password Rotation
Security authorities, including the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the US NIST, discourage routine, time-based password changes for regular users. Why? Because forcing a monthly or quarterly update often nudges people to make incremental tweaks—adding a “1” to the end, swapping “Summer” for “Autumn”—creating patterns that attackers anticipate. Arbitrary expiry policies can reduce overall security by trading memorability for predictability. The modern recommendation is to keep passwords long, unique, and backed by multi-factor authentication (MFA), and to change them promptly when risk increases.
So when should you actually rotate? After a confirmed or suspected breach, device loss, malware infection, or a phishing scare. You should also change passwords when you discover reuse across accounts, when you elevate privileges, or when staff leave a team with shared access. High-stakes environments—like privileged administrator accounts and payment platforms—deserve stricter cycling aligned to policy and regulation. The priority is not the calendar; it’s the context. Pair that mindset with robust monitoring, breach alerts, and a password manager, and you’ll beat the old “every 90 days” dogma hands down.
A Practical Schedule: When to Change and When to Wait
Adopt a risk-based timetable. Focus on account sensitivity, exposure, and legal duties. For day-to-day personal accounts, there’s no need to churn credentials just to satisfy a date on the wall. Instead, use MFA, maintain unique passphrases, and act the moment a trigger hits: breach alert, suspicious login, or lost phone. For businesses, enforce tighter rules on high-risk systems and ensure offboarding sparks immediate changes. Routine rotation is smart only where the stakes demand it or policy compels it.
| Account Type | Recommended Change Frequency | Triggers to Change Now |
|---|---|---|
| Banking & Payments | No routine change; react to risk | Breach alerts, suspicious transactions, device loss |
| Email & Cloud Storage | No routine change; annual review of MFA/recovery | Unfamiliar logins, forwarding rules added, breach news |
| Social Media | No routine change | Account hijack signs, phishing, unknown devices |
| Work SSO/Corporate | Per company policy; often no forced expiry | Breach, job role change, device compromise |
| Privileged Admin | Every 60–90 days or per policy/compliance | Any suspicion, team changes, new high-risk access |
| Shared/Legacy Accounts | Eliminate sharing; otherwise frequent review | Staff departures, vendor turnover, incident response |
| Travel/High-Risk Locations | Change before and after trips if warranted | Device inspection, border inspection, unsafe Wi‑Fi use |
| Kids/Family Accounts | Quarterly review and education | Bullying, account misuse, suspicious messages |
When in doubt, act fast: change the password, enable MFA, and review recovery options. Then log out of all sessions and prune connected apps. One decisive response beats routine churn every time.
Signs Your Password Has Been Compromised
Watch for red flags. Unexpected MFA prompts. Password reset emails you didn’t request. Unfamiliar devices or locations in your account activity. Messages sent from your profile without your knowledge. New email forwarding rules or filters. Transaction alerts. Dark web breach notices. Security software warnings. Even a slight drift in app behaviour—like settings you didn’t change—can be a clue. If your gut says something’s off, assume risk and respond.
Act methodically. Change the password immediately from a clean device. Enable or reset MFA and regenerate backup codes. Review sessions and sign out everywhere. Remove suspicious connected apps and OAuth tokens. Check critical settings: email forwarding, mailbox rules, recovery email and number. Scan devices for malware. If money is involved, tell your bank and monitor statements. For work accounts, notify IT and follow incident procedures so logs are preserved. Finally, audit your password manager: look for reuse, weak entries, or accounts sharing similar patterns. One compromise often exposes other reused passwords—break the chain now.
Build Strong, Memorable Passwords and Use MFA
The best defence is structural. Use a password manager to generate and store long, random passwords for every site. Aim for 16–24 characters or more. For the few secrets you must remember—like the manager’s master password—use a multi-word passphrase that’s unique and not a famous quote. Add entropy with uncommon words, numbers, and separators. Never reuse passwords, even for throwaway accounts. Reuse turns one slip into a domino run.
Enable MFA everywhere. Prefer app-based or hardware keys over SMS, which is vulnerable to SIM-swap attacks. Where available, consider passkeys for phishing-resistant login. Update bogus “security questions” with manager-stored random answers, not real facts. Keep recovery email and phone numbers current, and print or securely store backup codes. Finally, clean house: close old accounts you never use. The smaller your attack surface, the fewer secrets you must defend. Strong, unique passwords plus MFA beat frequent rotations—every single time.
Changing Passwords Safely and Keeping Track
Prepare before you switch. Confirm the site URL is legitimate. Use a trusted network or mobile data, not public Wi‑Fi. Generate a new password in your manager, save it, then change it on the site and verify the login works in a fresh session. If supported, revoke old sessions and tokens. For email and cloud accounts, double-check forwarding and recovery settings right after the change. Update MFA methods, regenerate backup codes, and store them safely.
For businesses, document changes to privileged accounts, align with joiner-mover-leaver processes, and comply with frameworks. Some standards—like PCI DSS—still mandate rotation for certain roles and systems; follow the stricter rule where applicable. Keep an access inventory, disable unused accounts, and prefer role-based access over shared credentials. Periodically audit your password manager for weak, reused, or breached entries. And don’t forget usability: train teams to use managers on desktop and mobile so good habits stick. Security that people can actually do is the only security that lasts.
You don’t need a metronome for safer passwords; you need smart timing, strong design, and rapid response when risk appears. Build long, unique credentials, wrap them in MFA, and change them when your signals light up—breach alerts, suspicious activity, device loss, or policy demands. That’s modern hygiene. That’s resilience. Now, thinking about your own accounts, where will you tighten the schedule and where will you simply strengthen the defences instead?
Did you like it?4.5/5 (20)