PASSWORD PROTECTION

Almost each and every day, we are required to sign in with a user name and user password to access certain information on the computer. Today, I thought I would talk about creating a strong user password. One of the principal mistakes that people make when thinking of a password to access a site is using the same password for all of their accounts. This is a great thought, as far as remembering the information, if it weren’t for the fact that if your password was compromised by hackers on any computer or online site you visited, you may just as well assume that all your other accounts with the same password were also accessed.

Some qualities to keep in mind when creating a strong password include the following: (1) the more characters that you provide increases your password protection - using at least 14 or more characters is ideal, if you should decide to use less, 8 characters would be considered the minimum you should use (2) avoid using sequences or repetitive numbers such as “567…..” or “44444”. (3) try and use the entire keyboard when creating a password (numbers, symbols, letters – both uppercase and lowercase), the more complex, the harder it is to crack. (4) using any demographic information about yourself as a password is not a wise decision! Criminals can acquire demographic information about anyone by accessing social networking sites, public data sources and resumes you may have posted online and are able to obtain your name, address, birthday etc. (5) avoid dictionary words – there is now software that a criminal can use to try and access your password based on words in multiple dictionaries or even words that are spelled backwards. In a prior security class that I was in for Information Systems we tested free software to see what kind of passwords were easily compromised and how quickly this could be done.


After following all of these tips, and as a final check, use password checker to confirm that the password you’ve chosen is sufficient enough to protect yourself. This password checker allows you to enter a password that you've selected and a bar graph will show the rating, anywhere from "weak" to "best."

If you plan on writing down your passwords, remember to keep them in a secure place and do not share them with anyone. A secure place should not be interpreted as under your keyboard at work or in your wallet. I hope this information will be useful for future reference.