The recent hacking scandals that have dominated the headlines led me to reconsider all the passwords I currently use at work and at home. Hacking, defined by Wikipedia as the means of discovering weaknesses in a computer or computer network, is a serious and ongoing threat to both businesses and personal home offices. After doing extensive research, I now have a better understanding of why I need to create a really strong password and how to do it correctly. Below are the most important tips to remember when creating a password that even Spider-Man can’t hack.
- The recommended minimum password length is 6-8 characters. The longer and more complex the password, the more likely it is to withstand a brute force attack used by hackers on encrypted data. According to Microsoft, passwords with 15 or more characters are no longer encrypted or stored in your hidden system files; therefore, completely eliminating the threat of being attacked by a hacker.
- The trick is to make your passwords complex but easy for you to remember and hard for others to guess. One suggestion is to start with a meaningful phrase, remove spaces, mix 1-2 capital letters, change 1-2 letters to numbers, deliberately misspell a word, or insert a punctuation mark. Here’s an example: “I love social media” can be changed to “1luvSocailM3dai”. There is a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, misspelled words, and a period at the end.
- Another suggestion when using a meaningful sentence is to take the first letter of each word and apply the same techniques as above. So “I love social media” can be changed to “iL:sm12!”.
- An alternative to using a sentence is to join two unrelated words together and, again, apply the same techniques as above. For example: “hamburger&wirele” can be changed to “Hambugr&wirele88”.
- It is not enough to simply use a technique; must be a mix and meet the minimum number of characters.
- Do not use anyone’s name or username (your own, your spouse’s, children, pets, relatives, etc.).
- Do not use any dictionary words, TV show names, or keyboard sequences (such as qwerty).
- Do not use any phone number, date of birth, license plate number, or any part of a social security number.
- Change your passwords every 4-6 weeks and don’t reuse old passwords.
- Create a different password for your different accounts; which means your email, bank account, Amazon, PayPal account must have different passwords. As annoying as it is to remember so many passwords, if one account gets hacked, at least the others won’t be compromised.
- Do not write down your passwords or store them near or on your computer. If you must store passwords, use hints instead to help you remember.
- Finally, always be wary of emails asking you to change your password. It could be a scam! An exception would be if you forgot your password and requested that it be reset.
The different password options are endless; just use your imagination to think of something that is completely random and unique to you. Do you have any other helpful tips to add to the list? Have you had experience with being hacked? Share your story with us!