How many different passwords do you have and use every day? There are passwords to log into your computer, passwords to get on your email, passwords to check your Facebook page, and passwords to use your debit card. Unfortunately, “Open Sesame” isn’t enough of a password. Your passwords need to be confidential and difficult, because passwords are the only thing blocking a hacker from finding your information.
You may be wondering why a hacker would want to break into your email or your bank account that holds just a few dollars. What if an attacker gets your bank account information but waits to use it until there is more money in the account? Even if your bank account never has money in it, you are still at risk. Hackers are usually looking for bigger and more important information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, even medical records.
So how do you choose good passwords to protect your information? The first step is to avoid using easily obtainable personal information. For example, avoid using your birthday, last four numbers of your phone number, or the last sequence of numbers in your social security number. By using these types of passwords, you are putting yourself at risk. If your wallet was dropped or stolen, a thief could easily look at your driver’s license, which has your birthday listed, and try using your birthday as the pin number for your debit card. Using words for passwords is also dangerous. These types of passwords are vulnerable to dictionary attacks – an attack that uses the dictionary to find the right word that is your password.
The best passwords to use are a sequence of numbers and letters, both lower and upper case. In order to remember these passwords, come up with a phrase. For example, you can use a phrase like “I like to listen to music.” Using the first letters of these words, your password becomes “IL2L2M.” To make the password even more complicated to decode, use upper and lower case letters: “iL2L2m.” Another option is to use longer passwords like “I am afraid of squirrels.” However, some applications don’t allow enough space for longer phrases or for spaces. When using long passwords, you should avoid song lyrics, famous quotes, and common phrases.
After you have a strong password, don’t use it for all of your programs. Choose different passwords so that if a hacker figures out one, he won’t have access to all of your information. In order to remember all of your passwords, you may need to write them down. Do not keep your passwords next to your computer or worse, taped to the computer screen. Never give your password to others, especially in emails requesting passwords. When using a public computer, always log out of programs.
There is no 100% guarantee that you won’t be a victim of a hacker stealing your information, but using strong, hard to guess passwords will help.
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- How to Keep Computer Passwords Safe
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