Do you think you have a handle on what makes a good online password? Chances are your ideas are better than some of the worst passwords of 2015. SplashData, a software company marketing a password management product called SplashID, recently released its list of the worst passwords of 'year. (Do not worry, they do not share all the secrets - those passwords have all been publicly disclosed.) Some of them are real doozies
Passwords away from
Ready for fast. overview of what you must not absolute when it comes to creating passwords? Check out some of the worst password offenders last year - I hope none of you are on this list:
- 12345 (and variations 123456 and 12345678)
- password (and its variant, passw0rd)
- azerty
- abc123
- 111111
- connection
- welcome
- football
- baseball
- monkey
- starwars
- solo
- Princess
- dragon
- master
You get the idea. While the passwords appear to be quite different, they actually have a lot in common: they are short, use of names and common words, embrace popular trends (starwars, solo, princess) and are surprisingly easy to hack
[although the passwords are good for a laugh, they expose it an astonishing lack of awareness on the part of their owners, which makes them easy marks for cyber attacks identity theft. As many have learned the hard way, the first step toward protecting your personal and financial data from intruders is to use strong, difficult to crack passwords.
The Old-School Board is still good
If you are not willing to invest in a password management system - and most people really should - you can always take simple steps to create passwords that are not easily broken. Based on the advice of the old school, it is the foundation for strong passwords :.
- Longer is better, and when it comes to passwords, 12 characters minimum, 15 is even better
- Mix them; it is best to have a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. The easier it is for you to type, the easier it is for a hacker to crack.
- Avoid obvious substitutions, as a zero for the letter "o" or a dollar sign for the letter "s." Using "Prince $$" for a password is much safer than the original "Princess" in the list above
- do not get personal -. avoid using your name or the names of family members, birth dates, phone numbers, addresses, or any other words connected to easily obtain personal data
- Stay away from words and phrases the fashion. the release of the new Star Wars movie was behind many terrible Password decisions last year. If it is in the news, it should not be in your password
- Use different passwords for all accounts that store financial information -. Do not create a virtual skeleton key that unlocks all online credit cards. If it is too difficult to remember lots of different passwords, see recommendation above and obtain a password manager.
If you follow these tips, you will have a much stronger password that will do a better job of protecting you online. But that's just the beginning.
Think passphrase instead of Password
Many cybersecurity experts recommend creating a password from four to six random, unconnected words. There is some time the XKCD web comic produced a funny and compelling illustration explaining the math behind random passphrases and why they are so difficult to crack. Suffice to say, a sentence of four random words would take over 500 years for a computer to guess, compared to less than three days, even the most intelligent passwords manmade.
Diceware is a website that helps users create passphrases random words based on the roll of the dice. You ride a regular six-sided die to create a list of numbers corresponding to a list of words that you string together for a passphrase. There are even some tips to help you remember your sentence.
Another option is to choose a six-letter word you can easily remember and use the dictionary to select a random word that starts with each letter. If your word is August, for example, your password can be:
A - aster
U - under
G - gold
U - unfit
S - slice
T -. tornado
The point is to choose a word that acts as a mnemonic device to remember your password
It's tempting to shrug bad passwords and say piracy can not not happen to you, but the fact is that cybercrime is much more common than you think. These tips will help you create stronger passwords and passphrases safer, but for maximum protection, consider one of the many excellent - and often free -. Password Managers
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