The following tips will help you create a secure password that are difficult to hack.
Most people have multiple passwords for e-mail accounts, online banking, discussion forums, site memberships, eBay, PayPal and so on. With so many passwords to remember, it can be difficult to remember them, and people may think it is easier to simply use the same password on different sites, or to use passwords that are easy to remember such their date-of-birth or a child’s name. Unfortunately, these types of passwords can easily be hacked.
The problem is that while you might be able to remember these passwords, which is why so many people use basic passwords and phrases, they are not at all secure and hackers will be able to easily crack them to obtain your account information.
The following tips will help you to create strong, secure and hacker-proof passwords and phrases.
Tips for Creating a Strong Password
Create a Strong Password from a Pass Phrase
Some systems will allow you to use a pass phrase, that is a phrase with spaces. These are the most secure types of log-ins. If the system does not support phrases, then you can create a secure password from a phrase.
For example “My son Ryan is 12 years old” as a password could be msRi12yo. You can make this more secure my replacing some characters with uppercase letters and adding numbers and punctuation, like this: msRi12Y0!. These types of passwords are often easier to remember.
Check Your Password Strength
There are many online services that can help you determine how secure your password really is. Microsoft’s Password Checker lets you enter in a password and the service will help you to gauge the strength of your password. Microsoft also recommends that a strong password should be 14 characters or longer, (eight characters or longer at a minimum), and it should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.““
Based in Nova Scotia, Vangie Beal is has been writing about technology for more than a decade. She is a frequent contributor to EcommerceGuide and managing editor at Webopedia. You can tweet her online @AuroraGG.
This article was originally published on July 02, 2009