Creating Strong Passwords
Ami Kastner

Nobody wants to deal with the consequences of identity theft. To help prevent this from happening to you, you need to have strong passwords for everything you do from logging on to your computer to paying credit card bills. If hackers get ahold of your passwords, they can charge purchases to your accounts, apply for loans and credit cards, and chat online disguised as you.

By now, you probably know not to use your dog's name for a password, but what other passwords should you stay away from? Never use the word 'password' for a password. Also, never use a child's name, a pet's name, your mother's maiden name, your spouse's name, part of your social security number, or telephone number. In addition, you should never use any word that can be found in a dictionary. You should also never use consecutive letters or numbers such as abcd or 3456.

Creating a password out of random letters, numbers, and symbols is ideal; however, in most situations this is impractical because how do you remember it? More than likely, you have to write it down, and it ends up in the top drawer of your desk or taped to your monitor. Therefore, the best way to generate a strong password that you will remember is to come up with a phrase that means something to you. For example, "My old dog Spot eats at 5." By taking the first letter from each word, you can create the random password modsea5. However, the password can become even stronger by changing some of the letters to capitals, numbers, and symbols so the result would be m0D5e@5. You now have a strong password that you can remember without having to look at a cheat sheet.

There are many additional precautions that need to be taken when it comes to password security.

1. Do not share your password with ANYBODY! Passwords are meant to be kept a secret. Sharing a password just increases your chance that somebody else may write down your password which then could be stumbled upon by somebody with less desirable intentions.
2. Manage your passwords. While it is ideal to have a different password for every account, this again may not be practical. In the situation that there are too many accounts to have a separate password for each one, create several different passwords and use a different password for each type of account.
3. Always monitor anything that is password protected. If you ever notice anything suspicious, check into it immediately and take the necessary steps to rectify the situation.

If you have any questions regarding passwords or computer security, please do not hesitate to contact Drake Hardware & Software at 319.752.1155.