Some of us have one; some of us have many. Some of us get hard pressed to remember which ones go to which accounts. Some are long, some are short, and some are just too simple. While you may think that your password is as secure as the house key in your pocket that opens your front door, it may be easier to figure out then you'd like to believe.

Tips on Creating a Secure Password

The first law of choosing a secure password is to never use words from any dictionary, English or not. This means common words, names, dates, and numbers. And while you may think that borrowing a word from that Japanese dictionary your son brought home last month might throw people off; it won't. Taking a word from his Physics book won't help you either, nor will anything out of print or broadcast media. You've got to be creative when choosing the key that accesses all your valuable data; otherwise, you might as well just use 'password' for your password.

Another trick that doesn't work well is using the misspellings of words as a password. This means 'pasword' is as effective as 'password'. Also 'p4ssw0rd' won't do you much good either. These things might make you feel secure, but feeling and being are two very different things.

Never use your account name as your password. It might seem like an easy way to remember it, but it also makes it easy to figure out. Also, don't just add numbers to the end of your account name and use that as a password.

If you find a page with sample secure passwords: don't use them. They are there to show you what you should try to achieve, not to be plagiarized. Originality is the key!

Patterns such as '1a2b3c4d' are not a good choice either. Anything predictable is at risk of being cracked. Once again, originality is the key to your data's security.

Keeping a Secure Password Secure

Once you have a good, secure password picked out don't forget you still have to keep it secure! Don't write it down as it makes it easy to steal. Don't use the same password for your bank accounts as you do for your gaming accounts. Don't boast to your friends about how you chose 'C0CaLaR2Hn' because they are the first and last letters of the names of your favorite Star Wars characters. Don't follow a link to a site through an email and punch in your password when you can just as easily go to the website through your Favorites or type in its' URL.

So, remember the next time you choose a password, mix it up! You want uppercase and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation in there. The more randomly placed the better! Use nonsense words, or choose a quote you like and take the first letters of each word and put them together. Don't forget to throw in a few numbers and some wacky capitalization. Also make sure to make it something you'll remember. After all, that house key of yours isn't much good if you forget where you left it.