In today’s world, everything is going digitals whether it’s your bank, your shopping experience, even your friends on social networking websites. But all these conveniences of getting things done with few clicks comes with a price. And In this case, the cost that we have to pay is our security.
Nowadays it’s common for hackers to steal information by guessing your password. And with this level of technological advancement if you are still using passwords like your name, 12345, ‘password’ or some dictionary words, etc. then you are simply putting your leg on the axe.
If your password falls into the wrong hands, someone can easily impersonate you while online, sign your name to online service agreements or contracts, engage in transactions, or change your account information. So what should we do? Here are some do’s and don’t to keep in mind while creating the right password.
In this post, we will see why strong passwords are so important and how to create a good password to protect yourself from hackers.
Good password ideas
A good password has a combination of upper and lower case letters along with numbers and special symbols(! @ $ % ^ &).
Use at least ten characters, the longer the password, the more secure it is.
Always select good security questions. If you have a simple question like your DOB, family member’s name or your address, anyone can find it from your social profile and can access your account.
Don’ts
Never use your name ( no not even your nickname..!! ) or any family members’ or friends’ name.
Avoid writing it down anywhere.
Do not use the same password for everything. If someone knows your one password, he or she can access all your Accounts
Never share your password with anyone, not even to your best friend or family members.
Never leave your account logged in, not even for a minute. By the time you were out, people may change your security questions or recovery e-mail to have access to your account later.
Don’t stick with the same password. It is recommended to change your password in every 3-6 months.
Don’t select dictionary words. Nowadays hackers use dictionary attack in which the software tests thousands of dictionary words in just 2-3 sec.
Tips to make a good password:
Select a Passphrase instead of a password. This can be anything, a line from your favorite song, a quotation or a catchy slogan, anything which you use more often. Eg: Watch your step- it could be your last.
Take initial alphabet of every word in the phrase like in above, e.g., was-icy. See now it looks pretty strong.
Now to make it more secure, use a combination of upper and lower case letters. Eg: WyS-iCbYl.
Replace some alphabetic characters with non-alphabetic characters. Eg: s look similar to 5 and, I to ! this would make it look like Wy5-!CbYl.
You can further add any website’s name or computer name or any name for which it is meant. Eg : if it’s for Facebook- {f@(eb00k}
So finally it becomes – Wy5-!CbYlf@(eb00k
How to remember such type of passwords?
What if we have many passwords like that for different types of websites that we access…?? For that, we have many PASSWORD MANAGER SOFTWARE to store different passwords in one location. Personally, I prefer KeePass. This is an excellent open-source freeware that stores the passwords in high encrypted format.
How to make sure that you have selected a good password?
There are many online services that check whether your selected password is secure or not. One such service is The Password Meter. Here they will make sure that your password is safe to use.
