Using Strong Passwords
The PRIMARY method that a hacker uses to access your personal account information is to guess your password. This password is much like the key to your house. If someone else can pick the lock and guess your password, they ARE you and you are compromised!
With something so simple as a password, why not take the time to create a very complex password and keep people out? For most people, they don't remember passwords very well, so they use simple ones to "protect" their information.
How do you create passwords in such a way that you can remember them and that you can make them more complex to make them hard to guess? Here are some simple ways to create easy-to-remember complex passwords:
Pass-phrases: Create a "sentence" that is easy to remember and then use parts of each word as your passphrase. For example, "My Uncle Earnie received a Purple Heart for his bravery on D-Day" would become "MUEraPH4hboDD" - or - "I wish I could remember my password!" would become "IwIcrmp!"
Don't put yourself in the password: Ensure that no personal information is used as your password. If your child's name is Lucy, don't use a password with the word "Lucy" in it.Speak "l33t" : Hackers, Phreakers and other deviants (myself included) began spelling with an alternative set of letters and numbers as substitutes. The most common things like "4" = "for" were expanded to include "3" for the letter "e" and "ne" for "any" as well as many other words that look wrong, but sound write or make no sense spoken, but look very close on paper. Using these unique spelling can turn "mynamehere" into "myn4m3h3r3" which, while still a weak password, is better than the original!
Combine letters, numbers, upper/lower case and symbols: EVERY password should include at least 3 of the different "kinds" of characters available for passwords. "Now is the time for all young men to come to the aid of their country" is actually a bad password. "Nittfaymtcttaotc" is barely better. "Nitt4aym2c2taotc." (including the period) is a great password.
Don't forget other forms of punctuation: Though a few servers may complain about some characters, there are many other characters that most people skip when creating passwords. Spaces, for one, make for a very good password. Other characters like "|" (pipe) and "\" are definitely under-utilized, but they also sometimes cause problems, especially with web servers. Back to the last sample password "N i t t 4 a y m 2 c 2 t a o t c." is a KILLER password!
Password security is the simplest form of protection for your account information and ultimately protection for you! Use your passwords correctly and you can protect yourself from anyone wanting to take over your identity on a computer system.
REMEMBER -- DO NOT USE ANY OF THESE SAMPLE PASSWORDS FOR ANY REASON ON ANY ACCOUNT!
