How to Create a Strong Password ?

A strong password is the main barrier keeping most of your online accounts from being hacked. Without up to date practices, you might be using passwords that cyber-frauds can easily guess within hours. Exposing yourself to identity theft and extortion is a risk you should never take. You will need to create passwords that can fight modern password theft methods.

Weaknesses in your account credentials can be a cybercriminal’s dream. But their success is your nightmare, so you’ll need to take steps to avoid being a victim of password hacking.

Biggest Mistakes Users Make

By using a weak password, you are “opening the door” for hackers and inviting them in. To top it off, there’s high likelihood that what you consider to be “strong” passwords” are really weak ones. Have you ever used any of the following as a password:

• Your name. (Like seriously? It doesn’t take a hacker or a malware to crack this)
• Your friends or family members’ names. Pet names as well. – Well sure, I love my dog too, but it could be easily guessed, even without a professional on the other side.
• Keyboard patterns – “123456” is the leader in most “worst passwords” lists. Followed by the likes of “qwerty” and such.
• Your login information. If your username is, let’s say, Ironman, your password shouldn’t be Ironman as well.
• Common words – these are too many to list, but let’s just say passwords like “password”, or “admin” aren’t the best options. Also, avoid the names of sports, sports teams or common names for your password.
• Avoid using short passwords – The shorter your password, the less time someone needs to crack it. Only 30% of users use passwords longer than six symbols.

How to Create a Strong Password

To protect yourself against the newest hacking methods, you’ll need powerful passwords. If you’re wondering. “how strong is my password?” here are some tips to help you create a strong password:

• Is it long? Try for over 10-12 characters minimum but aim to make it longer if possible.
• Is it hard to guess? You should avoid sequences (“12345” “qwerty”) because these can be brute force hacked in seconds. Also, avoid common words (“password1”) for the same reason.
• Does it use varied character types? Lowercase, uppercase, symbols, and numbers can all have a home in your password. Variety can increase how unpredictable your password is.
• Does it avoid apparent character substitutes? For example, you might use the number zero “0” in place of the letter “O.” Hackers code these into their software nowadays, so avoid this.
• Does it use any uncommon word combinations? Passphrases might be more secure when using unexpected words. Even if you are using common words, you can arrange them in an odd order and make sure they are unrelated. Both methods can throw off dictionary hacking.
• Will you remember it? Use something that makes sense to you but will be hard for computers to guess. Even random passwords can be remembered by muscle memory and being semi-readable. But passwords that lock you out of your account won’t help much.
• Have you used it before? Reusing passwords compromises multiple accounts. Make it original every time.
• Does it use a rule that’s hard for computers to guess? An example might be a passphrase of three 4-letter words, where you are replacing the first two letters of each word with numbers and symbols. This might look like: “?4ee#2ge?6ng” in place of “treecagesing”

For example:

TGG_bFSF!HwBo9241896 [ The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald! He was Born on 9/24/1896 ]

InTlItMbA_rn!4S-mny$ [ I need To log In to My bank Account_right now! 4 Some – mny$]

A passphrase example might be, “coW!burN#movE?pianOh” (using the words cow, burn, move, and piano.)