How to Make a Good Password

Passwords are an important part of the Internet today. They are used on just about every website, especially any site involving personal information or financial transactions.

Why Do I Need A Good Password?

Knowing how to create good passwords for your online life is essential to keeping your information as safe as possible. While no password is 100% safe, it is best to make it as difficult to crack as possible.

How Do I Make A Great Password?

A great password is easy to remember, but difficult to guess or hack. Password length, along with using upper and lower case letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols are important factors in creating a good password.

A password length of 10 - 14 characters is a great target. The variety of letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols all increase the data set required when trying to hack the password, thereby, making it much more secure.

To make a secure password, try starting with a couple of words or a phrase, then add numbers, punctuation, and symbols in random parts of the words or phrase. From there, you can disguise the words or phrase even more by replacing random letters with random punctuation or symbols.

Passwords To Avoid

There are some patterns to avoid when creating your password. Dictionary words are words that can be found in any common dictionary. Many programs designed to crack passwords are outfitted with a dictionary of words. Dictionary words should be avoided as passwords, but do provide a good starting place for a strong password.

Misspellings and abbreviations need to be avoided. These can easily be programmed into a password cracking algorithm. Repetition of letters and numbers should also be avoided. Having the same letters or numbers right next to each other makes your password less secure.

Always avoid personal information as any part of your password. Personal information can easily be found on the Internet, especially since social networks have become popular.

How To Safeguard Your Passwords

The biggest way to safeguard your password is to not give it out to anyone. If you are ever asked for a password in an email or over the phone, don’t give it out. If someone from IT asks you for your password, don’t give it out. They should not need your password to perform their duties.

Don’t write down your passwords and store them near your computer. It is safest not to write down your passwords, but if you need to, make sure they are stored in a secure location. A safe would be preferable.

Make sure to change your password on occasion, especially to sensitive websites, such as bank accounts. I like to change sensitive passwords about every 6 to 12 months. Changing passwords on less important accounts, such as social networks, can be done every 12 to 24 months.

I like to use different passwords for different accounts. That way, if a password to one account is compromised, then your accounts on other websites will be safe. I reserve my most secure passwords for any sensitive websites, and I vary the passwords among those sites. In total, I use about 15 different passwords between all of my online accounts.