Tips For Password Security
The guidelines and steps for creating strong and secure passwords.
- Keep your passwords private – never share a password with anyone else
- Do not write down your passwords, use a password manager instead
- Use passwords of at least eight (8) characters or more (longer is better)
- Use a combination of upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters (for example: !, @, &, %, +) in all passwords
- Avoid using people’s or pet’s names, or words found in the dictionary; it’s also best to avoid using key dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
- Substituting look-alike characters for letters or numbers is no longer sufficient (for example, Password” and “P@ssw0rd”)
- A strong password should look like a series of random characters
How To Create A Strong, Complex Password
Here’s a way to make a strong password that’s very hard to crack:
FOLLOW THESE STEPS
- Think of a phrase or sentence with at least eight words. It should be something easy for you to remember but hard for someone who knows you to guess. It could be a line from a favorite poem, story, movie, song lyric, or quotation you like.
Example:
I Want To Put A Dent In The Universe
- Remove all but the first letter of each word in your phrase.
IWTPADITU
- Replace several of the upper-case letters with lower case ones, at random.
iWtpADitU
- Now substitute a number for at least one of the letters. (Here, we’ve changed the capital “I” to the numeral 1).
iWtpAD1tU
- Finally, use special characters ( $, &, +, !, @) to replace a letter or two — preferably a letter that is repeated in the phrase. You can also add an extra character to the mix. (Here, we’ve replaced the “t” with “+”, and added an exclamation point at the end.)
iW+pAD1tU!
Why This Is Important ?
Traditional passwords can be cracked by hackers in less than a minute! Follow this guide to create passwords that would take centuries to crack.
