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HOW TO MAKE SECURE PASSWORDS The need for secure passwords these days is acute. Most people use simple 2-6 character passwords, often times a pet's name, mother's maiden name, names of kids and other things associated specifically with that person. Usually, they use the same password for everything. And only 11% of all people who have passwords for on-line accounts actually change them at least 3 times a year (the recommended amount). There are many password creating programs which will store your passwords as needed (We have developed our own program, Safekeeper, for example), but it's often tedious to use them if you're not willing to use 2 programs (A browser and a password keeper) to access your password-protected websites. A simpler, easy to remember but very hard to crack password is what's needed. When it comes to password security there are some basic steps that can be taken to make passwords that are easy to remember and very hard to crack for each site you visit. The first step is to create an algorithm. An algorithm is a process to generate a password based on several key ingredients. First you have a common root word that you can remember. Make it short. Next you have a number that is significant to you. Maybe it's the first two to four numbers of your zip code, your current age with a zero before and after, the year you were born, or some other random number you can remember. Next you put in the last three or four letters of the website for which you have to enter the password. Then you throw in a chosen symbol or two (A ^, $, #, ! and * are good. Commas, periods and such are okay.) somewhere in a memorable place. There you have it: A easy to remember, hard to crack password. For example, let's start with this website and make up a password for it. Our root word will be "root" I'll add the year the business was started "1998". Toss in the last four letters of the website before the .com part, "ices" and add an asterisks " * ". Finally, I decide on the order of my algorithm - one that never changes. It's best to start with an alphanumeric leading character. I have chosen "ices*root1998" as the base. I'll add capitals to the website part and make it, "ICES*root1998". This is a 13 character alphanumeric/symbolic password that is guaranteed to be very hard to crack, provided no one knows your algorithm. The basic idea is to have a word, a number and a symbol that never change, and add a part of the web-site name consistently someplace in that group. How you arrange them, what symbols, numbers, letters and part of the website you use is up to you. Even the capitals are all up to you. But to remember them fast and easily, always put them in the same order, the same way for every website. That way, you have a unique password that's hard to crack. Next, make up at least 12 entirely different algorithms. Use one of them for 4 months. Keep track of what websites you have them assigned to during that time. After 4 months, review each site and switch the passwords to the next chosen algorithm. After 4 years or so (Depending on how many algorithms you have made up), you recycle the algorithms, or continue to make up new ones every four months. It's important to ensure you write down or keep track of every website to which you assign a password and WHEN YOU DID IT. That way, you are always up to date with your current algorithm and can make changes at the appropriate times and know which algorithm is in current use. An hour or two every four months to ensure your passwords are hard to crack and keeping your identity from hackers and others who would use and abuse it if they knew your password was 'god' or some other such easy to guess nonsense is only prudent in today's Internet. The harder you make it for them, helps increase your safety. |
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