What Makes A Strong Password?
It all starts with a strong password. We all have more passwords we care to have. It might sound simplistic, but strong passwords are a must for good security. Strong passwords to your web, ftp, and data servers are the easiest first step toward a secure web presence.
What Makes A Strong Password?
- A three-character password is much weaker than a six or eight character password. A good rule of thumb is never to use password shorter than eight characters.
- In no way should you use the default password
- Never make a word found in a dictionary your password. One of the most common methods to break into systems is to run scripts that try using dictionary words to guess your password. The less your password looks like a dictionary word, the less likely will someone guess what it is.
- Include numbers and special characters
- Avoid repeated numbers, characters or sequences such as 12345678, bbbbbbbb, or 33333333
- Never use the user name, or any combination of it, as your password. Don’t use your domain name as your password either.
- Don’t use look alike substitutions like “4ufromme”, or n0t@home”
- Use the entire keyboard, and try to use the less common keys
- Use different passwords for different accounts. If you use the same password for all of your accounts, you may find multiple of your accounts compromised simultaneously.
- Never, ever use a blank password.
Examples of strong passwords are:
A combination of several words that aren’t themselves a word interspersed with special characters (e.g., !4scOrE&sDayNYeaRs_ag0)
A word with digits of a memorable date sprinkled inside it
(e.g., vacation -> 0vac2a0t9io19ln99)