In today’s digital world, we need a password for almost everything. From online banking to social network websites, we use passwords everywhere. Having a strong password keeps our personal information safe and makes things difficult for hackers. Here, we will provide you with some Internet safety tips and password best practices to create a strong password and a more secure account.
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| Password Best Practices |
How to Create A Secure Password? Strong Password Guidelines and Best Practices
There’s a reason why we have a day designated as World Password Day. It is to remind
people of the importance of using a strong password.
In today’s digital world, we need a password for almost everything. From online banking to social network websites, we use passwords everywhere. It enables us to keep our personal information safe and prevent someone else from accessing it.
But unfortunately, many people ignore the importance of setting a strong password. They take things very lightly until they fall into the pit.
The online world is a dangerous place. Now, there is a steady rise in cyber attacks. There is always a risk of hackers hacking into your system or account and stealing valuable information. For example, if you have a weak password for your router, it can be easily cracked by anyone. If that happens then the person can connect to your router network and access the devices that are connected to it.
Having a strong password makes things difficult for hackers. It provides you with an added sense of security. If you are not sure how to create a strong and secure password, you are in the right place. In this guide, we will provide you with some Internet safety tips following which you can create unique passwords for your digital accounts and computer.
What is a Strong Password?
Before we tell you how to create a strong password, you need to first understand the important characteristics of a strong password.
A strong password is a password that cannot be cracked or guessed using a brute force attack. Hackers use various combinations of numbers, symbols, and letters to search for the right password. They use advanced computers that can crack short passwords in mere moments.
To make a password strong, you must use a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters, and special symbols. Also, your password shouldn’t be too short. An ideal password contains at least 12 characters. If you wish, you can go even longer than that.
The Characteristics of a Strong Password
The main characteristics of a strong password are:
1. Should Have Minimum of 12 Characters
You must select a password that contains a minimum of 12 to 14 characters. Any password shorter than that is not considered strong. The longer the password, the more difficult it is difficult to crack.
2. Must Have Special Symbols, Numbers, Lowercase/Uppercase Letters
Your password should be a combination of various symbols, uppercase and lowercase letters, and numbers. The inclusion of different types of characters makes it harder to guess or crack.
3. Don’t Use Common Substitutions
You should avoid the use of obvious substitutions in your password. For example,“H0ur” is not strong just because you replaced the O with a 0. Any experienced hacker can easily guess it.
4. Shouldn’t Contain Personal Information
Many of you have the habit of setting your birth date as your password. That’s a terrible idea. You shouldn’t even use your mobile number as your password. That’s because it can be guessed by someone who has your phone number. Instead, you should go for random numbers and names that have no relation to you.
5. Shouldn’t Contain Memorable Keyboard Paths
Passwords like “QWERTY123” are just not safe as they have memorable keyboard paths. You should avoid using these types of common passwords that can be easily cracked by a hacker.
Tips To Create A Strong Password
Now that you know the main characteristics of a strong password, we have some useful tips for you. You must follow these tips to create strong passwords for your accounts.
1. Use a Passphrase
It is better to use a passphrase, instead of using a password. That’s because passphrases are more secure and longer. This makes it extremely difficult for hackers to guess it using a brute force attack.
Choose a not-so-common phrase, instead of a word. Take the first letters, punctuation, and numbers to create a random combination of characters. To make your password more secure, you can also use a symbol or number to substitute the first letter.
Alternatively, you can swap out words for punctuation. Also, avoid using any common Passphrases.
2. Use Emoticons
Including random symbols in your password can make it difficult for you to remember it. To make things a bit easier, you can use emoticons.
You can’t add emojis to your password. Therefore, you will have to use emoticons, which are the coded versions of emojis. Emoticons are made up of letters, numbers, and/or punctuations.
3. Combine Unrelated Words in your Passphrase
One of the best things to do is to combine some random or unrelated words in your passphrase. However, you should avoid using phrases from popular shows, songs, or Movies.
To make your password secure and strong use three to four words. It doesn’t matter if your password is getting too long. The whole point is to make it secure.
4. Don’t Reuse Passwords
This is a very common mistake made by users. Instead of setting different passwords for different accounts, they use the same password for all their accounts. This is a very risky thing to do. If someone cracks your password, then the person will get access to all your accounts at once.
This is why you are advised to set different passwords for every account. Also, you should never share your password with anyone, not even your closest friend or partner.
5. Avoid Using Old Passwords
It is recommended you change your password often. Don’t use the same password for too long. But at the same time, you should also avoid using your old passwords. In other words, you shouldn’t recycle your passwords, especially if they have been compromised before. Even if you haven’t used the password for years, you shouldn’t use it again. It is always a good idea to come up with a new one.
Final Words
Setting a strong password for your account helps you keep it safe and secure. You shouldn’t act lazy when it comes to creating a strong and secure password. This is important for the safety of your accounts. You can use a reliable password manager to store all your passwords so that you don’t have to memorize them.