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Computer Support For Individuals And Small Business |
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11/12/10 |
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How To Create A Strong Password |
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There are many instances where a computer user is required to use a password. For example, to log into your computer, email account, bank account, brokerage account, and work related accounts, just to name a few.
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A password is the first line of defense in protecting important data. For maximum protection it is critical to use a strong password.
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So, how do you construct a strong password? More importantly, how do you construct a strong password that you can remember?
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There are specific “Do’s and Don’ts” to follow when constructing a password:
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- Do use upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols (#,%,*,!, etc.).
- Do use at least eight characters, preferably more.
- Do use separate passwords for different accounts.
- Don't use your name, address, or birthday.
- Don't use any actual word, name, or place, e.g., peaches, Jake, or Denver, within your password.
- Don't use the same character twice in a row.
- Don't use consecutive characters on your keyboard.
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With all these rules how do you construct a password that you can remember? And then, what about the issue that you need a different password for various logins, accounts, etc.?
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We recommend beginning by first creating a strong, basic password; a password that meets all the requirements above on its own. Then, add a different prefix or suffix for each specific login or account.
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So, how do you create the basic password? There are a number of ways, but one of the easiest ways is to start with a sentence, phrase, or other series of words that is meaningful to you and only you. Then, use only certain letters out of each word. Add some meaningful numbers and symbols, and you have a strong password. This is best illustrated by an example.
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Let’s say the sentence is “Give me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks, please.” We’ll start with the first letter from each word and we have GmspaCJp. A good start with both upper and lower case letters, but no numbers or symbols.
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The phrase has eight words so let’s put an eight in it. We’ll put it between the “p” and the “a” so that we don’t have a real word within the password. We’ll also add a nine because there are nine innings in a baseball game.
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Because it is a favorite phrase we’ll end it with an exclamation mark and move the period to the front. We’ll also add a comma where it would naturally be anyway. Now we have “.Gmsp8aCJ,p9!” as our new basic password. Note that some logins or accounts may not allow special characters so you will have to leave out the period, comma, etc.
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This could be used as a basic password adding a prefix or suffix based on where we are using it. Adding “-Ya for a Yahoo account we have “.Gmsp8aCJ,p9!-Ya”. For an AOL account we might use “.9Gmsp8aCJ,p!-Aol”.
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Here is a password tester that not only tests the strength of your password, but is very useful for building a password. Also, here is Microsoft's password tester.
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However you construct your password, after using it for a while it will become second nature to type it out when you need it. With a password like this, anyone interested in breaking into accounts by cracking passwords will be looking for easier prey.
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