Creating a Secure Password
Password security is critical to your online life. If you don't have a secure password you will be easily hacked, many passwords are set to be 12345 or password.Here is an example of a bad password. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6iW-8xPw3k
The best passwords have upper and lower case, numbers and alternate characters like underscores, dashes, asterix and are long typically over 8 characters; 8 characters would be a minimum length for a password today. Try remembering this password created by Data on Star Trek The Next Generation.
Creating a good password is hard, and making one you can remember is even harder but not impossible.
Elements Every Password Should Have:
- Be longer then 8 characters should be more like 20
- Not be a dictionary password
- Should have at least 2 numbers
- Should have at least 2 capitals
- It should have at least one alternate character
- Should not be the SAME PASSWORD on every site.
Here is a form to help you create a good password; please fill out the following:
Favorite Animal/Colour/Activity: ______________________________________
Favorite Object/Word/Family Member: ________________________________
Select one of the or more of the following characters: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = | ? /
Put down your favorite Number ____________________
(if your favorite number is a single digit please put a 0 in front of it. Ie. 01)
Example:
Favorite Animal/Colour/Activity: __cat_
Favorite Object/Word/Family Member: _orange_
Select one of the or more of the following characters: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = | ? / Put down your favorite Number ______24_______
Your password can be OrangeCat@24 or other variants can be used what ever is easiest to remember.
Password Testers
Microsoft Password Checker
http://www.passwordmeter.com/
http://howsecureismypassword.net/
Password Generators
http://www.testyourpassword.com/
Crazy Password Generators
https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
https://www.grc.com/ppp.htm
Top 500 Worst Passwords
For the regular user expecting them to change their password every two weeks for all their online services is pretty crazy. However for them to have a tiered password system or create a good password that is related to the site you are visiting but not obvious using the rules shown above. For example if I create a hotmail account I might make my password something like MyOrang3h0tM@!lAcc0unt24
And in case your wondering it would take an average desktop over 18 trillion years to crack my password. How about yours, try it out on http://howsecureismypassword.net/
