With online services a key part of our business lives, strong passwords are essential to protect valuable data in the cloud computing and social media services we use.
So how do we create passwords that are difficult to crack but no impossible to remember?
Have a long password
Strong passwords are usually long, also Windows computer systems have had problems in the past with shorter keys.
Generally it’s best to use a phrase rather than a word for your credentials. As most systems don’t like spaces in passwords, you can fill between the words with a character such as %, & or ^.
As an example we could use The&quick&brown&fox as a phrase. Some systems ask for a number, so you could add something like the postcode of where you were born or your car registration.
Make your passwords memorable
While passwords should be difficult to guess by an outsider, they should be easily remembered by you; this is the weakness of complex, obscure passcodes that also creates another vulnerability in that people tend to write these down in places close to your computer.
Having passwords you can easily remember makes it less likely you’ll lose a password to give it away by writing it down.
Use different passwords
Don’t use the same passwords for all logins –your banking or accounting log in should be stronger than your online gaming credentials or those for social media site like Facebook.
If you are required to create a password to access something like a newspaper or competition where you aren’t going to save sensitive information then a throw away password will be just fine.
Test your password
Microsoft have a great little tool for testing your passwords. Test yours for free on their Check Your Password website.
Passwords have become the keys to our online identities and business lives, so they are way too important to be casually thought up and used. Make sure you have a strong password to protect your online data.
Hi Paul
Nice to see someone helping people stay secure on the Internet.
I frequently use PCTools password generator website:
http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/
I tested them at the Microsoft site you mentioned, and the 8 character password was weak, the 16 character password ok, but the 32 character password the best.
The other nice thing is that the PCTools site also gives you the phonetics equivalent – ie: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc for each character in the password, so you could store that phrase somewhere instead of the actual password.
Its a simple matter then to read it to yourself while typing the password in.
Give it a whirl!
Cheers
Brad
Hi Paul,
I’ve been using 1password from agilebits.com for a couple of months now and can highly recommend it. It’s not free but worth the $$. It generates unique strong passwords for every website that requires you to create a user account and password. The best part is it adds an auto entry button in your browser that automatically fills in your details next time you visit. All info is synced across my PC, Mac, iPad and iPhone.
Best money I’ve spent in a while.
Cheers, Jason