I posted this before, but I think it bears repeating:
Passwords, everyone's got at least one. Whether it
be the password/PIN for your ATM card or for your various and sundry
email accounts and website logins.
What makes a secure
password? It's a simple question, but not so simple an answer. It
should be at least eight characters, should be a combination of letters
and numbers and should be mixed case. "password" is not a good
password. "PaSsWoRd" is OK, but it could be better. "Pa55WoRd" is
even better. If I had a nickel for every time someone called me and
told me that their password was their first name, last name first
initial and last name or the word "password," I'd be a rich man.
Make
the password something that you can remember, but would be difficult
for someone to "crack." What's your favorite movie? Make that your
password, but change some letters to be numbers or use mixed-case to
make it a little more secure. You could also throw in characters to
make it even more secure. "StArW@r5!" is a pretty good example of a
secure, but memorable, password.
Here's a great random password generator
that we use here at the office to help create passwords for users. The
great thing about this site is that the passwords are completely random
and you have a good number of options in creating the passwords: from
the number of characters, the inclusion of numbers and characters to
punctuation marks if you're so inclined. It even has an option for no
similar characters so you don't get confused by an i or an l.
Want
the very best way to create a secure password? Make a pass-phrase
instead. "apasswordisagoodthing" is a great, long and memorable
password that you're not going to be scratching your head trying to
remember and is a whopping 21-characters in length and terribly
difficult for even a cracking program to figure out.