Passwords are the key to a treasure chest that is filled with all of your personal and important information. Passwords keep your information private, safe and secure. While thinking up a password, you might have resorted to something you can easily remember so that you don’t get locked out of your account — but there shouldn’t be “one-shape-fits-all-keys” when it comes to vital information. That is what it becomes if your password is not unique and complex. You should not use that same password for all of your different logins either. It can become a domino account and if one account gets hacked they all can be hacked.
With hackers in every nook and cranny of the world wide web, you need to make sure those easily remembered passwords can’t be easily found out. While many of you may pick pet names, the name of the street you grew up on or even something as simple as your name and your birth year — that is the same data that a hacker will be looking for on your social media sites.
That is why it is essential to create a password that you can remember – but isn’t information that a hacker could find with ease.
Here are a few quick ways to improve your password:
Step One – Think of a Phrase
One of the best ways to improve your password is think of a phrase you will never forget — maybe you love the Green Bay Packers. You will never forget the phrase: “I love the Green Bay Packers.” However, typing the entire phrase is much to long for a password — that is why you shorten it. Take the first letter of every word and throw in an uppercase letter. Now we have a strong foundation for a new and improved password.
Example: “I love the Green Bay Packers”
Now our password is:
iltGbp
Step Two – Think of a Number:
For the number, pick one of your favorite numbers or a number related to your phrase. For this example let’s say you love that old number 4 from the Packers who just got inducted into the Hall of Fame. So we will go with 4.
Now our password is:
iltGbp4
Step Three – Is it a question?:
For the symbol you can choose any that relate to the message that are easy to remember. If the phrase is a question use a “?” if it is something you may yell at the top of your lungs use a “!”
We all love to show our support by cheering for our favorite team, so for this example we are going to say this is something we would scream at the top of our lungs.
Now our password is:
iltGbp4!
Even though our password is only 8 characters long, it is a very strong password. The password will not be written anywhere on your social media accounts so those hackers won’t be able to find your treasure key! Not only will your password stay secure, it will be easy to remember for you and only you.
If for some reason you can’t think of a phrase you like, there are great sites like Dinopass.com where you can generate simple and more complex passwords. The only problem with generation sites is that they have no personal connection to you they can be easy to forget.
Extra password tips: write it down (keep it somewhere safe and hidden), do not share a password with anyone, and remember to log out of all accounts when you are finished on your computer.
For more information on how to beef up you information security and network privacy contact us at Applied Tech.
