How to Create a Safe Password
Usernames and passwords are the electronic world’s most basic line of defense against thieves who would like nothing better than to log onto a site to loot an account or steal an identity. But short and easy-to-remember passwords — the kind most people like to use — can be cracked by hackers easily.
There are a number of ways to create passwords that are easy to use and remember yet still exceptionally difficult to break. The more characters in a password the harder it is to crack. Having at least eight characters is a good compromise between safety and usability. Experts say a safe password should include at least one or more of the following:
- A lower case letter — a, b, c, d …
- An upper case letter — A, B, C, D….
- A number — 0, 1, 2, 3…
- And a special character — @, #, $, &…
Helpful hints for creating an easy-to-remember, yet safe, password
Most people use the names of children, pets, TV stars, sports teams and players, birthdays, and favorite words for their passwords. Every word in the dictionary, name, and date are the first things hackers try when breaking a password.
Such name can be good a starting point, however, for the creation of a safe and easy-to-remember password. Say, for example, your child’s name is David and David’s birthday is January 29. To create a safe password, combine David’s name with his birthday and you get — 01david29. Capitalize the D’s so that the password now has upper case letters and you get 01DaviD29. Substitute the “@” for the “a” in order to include a special character — 01D@viD29. This password meets the criteria for a safe and easy-to-remember password. It is long enough, using at nine characters, and it includes at least one character from each recommended group. (Some sites will not let you use a special character such as the @ symbol. In that case, 01DaviD29 is still a strong password.)
Rather than a name, you can start with a phrase from a song, poem, or quote. For example, consider the first words of the Gettysburg Address, Four Score and Seven Years Ago. This phrase can be represented as 4S&7yerSa. The words from the Beatles’ song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds can become LuCitskiw*s. Replace the lowercase i’s with the number 1 and you get the 11 character password LuC1tsk1w*s.
Some experts say you should have a different password or every site that requires one. Others say that developing and using two well-constructed passwords is enough — a shorter one for low risk sites and a longer one for sites that contain highly confidential financial and identity information.
Regardless of how many passwords you use, do not store your passwords on your computer where they are vulnerable if your system is compromised. Do not write them on a note and stick them on your monitor. Write them down and keep them in a secure, perhaps locked, location.
Never give out passwords and be careful of letting your children know passwords — they have a tendency to o share such things with their friends. Do not click on a link in an unsolicited email and log onto a site. These are typically “Phishing” scams designed to lure the unwary onto a fraudulent site where the username and password are recorded.
