Strong passwords
One of the problems with passwords is that users forget them. In aneffort to not forget them, they use simple things like their dog’sname, their son’s first name and birthdate, the name of the currentmonth- anything that will give them a clue to remember what theirpassword is.
For the curious hacker who has somehow gained access to your computersystem this is the equivalent of locking your door and leaving the keyunder the doormat. Without even resorting to any specialized tools ahacker can discover your basic personal information- name, children’snames, birthdates, pets names, etc. and try all of those out aspotential passwords.
To create a secure password that is easy for you to remember, follow these simple steps:
- You should never use personal information as a part of your password. It is very easy for someone to guess things like your last name, pet's name, child's birth date and other similar details.
- Do not use real words.
- Mix different character types. You can make a password much more secure by mixing different types of characters. Use some uppercase letters along with lowercase letters, numbers and even special characters such as '&' or '%'.
- Use a passphrase. Rather than trying to remember a password created using various character types which is also not a word from the dictionary, you can use a passphrase. Think up a sentence or a line from a song or poem that you like and create a password using the first letter from each word.
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