Secrets of Making a Strong, Secure Password
Stop hackers from stealing your data, your money, and your identity!
Computers get faster all the time. Thieves can run the entire dictionary through your password login space — putting your online banking and PayPal accounts at risk!
To foil such attempts, make sure you have a secure password! Changing your password regularly is far less protective than having a really strong password in the first place!
Here’s how to make a strong password:
- Choose two or three words you can easily remember.
- Your goal is to have at least 12 characters. More than 12 is even better.
- Misspell the words.
- Sprinkle with a few digits (numbers)
- Sprinkle with odd capitalization.
Example:
My favorite words
My favrite wurdz
My 4 favrit3 wurdz
My4favrit3WURDZ
If you must change your password twice a year or every month, here’s a simple strategy. Make a strong password as above, then add the year and month at the end.
MyFavrit3WURDZ906
MyFavrit3WURDZ907
MyFavrit3WURDZ908
Another hack-proof strategy is to create a mnemonic phrase you can easily remember. For example, I Left My Heart In San Francisco becomes ILMHISF — but make it longer! Here are instructions on how to make a mnemonic password.
—August 2009, Wyn Snow
