What’s in a Password
Passwords!
You know you need them but how good are the ones you use?
Check out our earlier post on email security and let’s see if you recognize your password from this list of the most common passwords used.
Did you see yours? Or some slight variation of yours such as “letmein1″? Do you think you’re secure using such a common password?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions then my advice to you is CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS as soon as you’re done reading this. Password security is your Achilles Heel on the Internet.
Another shortcoming of password security, even if you don’t find yours among the above list, is using the same password on many different sites. Why is this a problem? Well take a look at this article on passwords stolen from Gawker.com.
Recently lists of passwords and email addresses were stolen from several web sites. If you used those sites and also use the same email and password combination on other sites, you may be are at risk.
So what should you do? First of all you should never use the same password on more than one site. Secondly use a longer password. Try using a phrase as a password such as “TheRainInSpain”. Third you should make your passwords more complex. Common ways to do this is to capitalize one of the letters in your password and substitute some letters for numbers. For instance, use a one (1) to substitute for a letter ‘L’ or letter ‘I’. Or, you can use a four (4) as the letter ‘A’. There are many others. Feel free to get creative. The more creative you are the more secure you will be.
Another step you can take to make yourself more secure is to use a password keeper program such as Roboform. Roboform also has a feature where it will generate a random password for you. Combine that with its ability to remember your passwords for you and you’re well on your way to becoming very well protected.
There are many solutions out there. What do you use?
-Jim
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Great post — and I must admit, “letmein1″ is more complex than the password I tend to use. My problem has always been instantly forgetting what password I use at what site. So, you can bet I’m going to use Roboform! Thanks for the tip!!!
[...] part 1 of my discussion of passwords I warned you about using the same password on many sites. In short, [...]
[...] part 1 of this series of articles we discussed the importance of using different and uncommon passwords, [...]
Great post! I totally agree with you!