Choosing a good password

In our last episode, we learned how hackers go about stealing passwords. Today we’re going to talk about what makes a good password and how to choose one that will help protect your data. We also promised that we’d reveal the world’s most popular password. The world’s most popular password is….

123456.

That’s right. In a study of some 32 million passwords that had been breached, 123456 was the overwhelming favorite. Surprisingly, the word “password” is also high on the list of popular passwords, just like “iloveyou” and “princess.” Those are horrible passwords.

So what makes a strong password? Here are some tips to creating strong passwords,

-A good password is at least eight characters long. Those eight characters should be a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols that don’t have significant meaning. Using birthdates and anniversaries are too obvious. Pick combinations that you can remember, but are tough for others to guess.

-A good password is one that doesn’t contain a word. As we learned in the last episode, dictionary attacks search for words within your password to help crack it. Words are easy to remember, but also easy to guess.

-A good password is one that you can remember. Passwords that are so complex that you can’t remember them aren’t good, because it means you’ve likely written down or stored the password somewhere near your computer. That makes for an easy target to steal.

-A good password is only used in one place. The password for your Bank of America account should be separate from your Capital One credit card account. Never use the same password across multiple sites. If a hacker obtains your password, and you use that password everywhere, you’ve just given him or her access to everything you have online.

-A good password is changed regularly. If you can’t change them all every month, at least change them a few times each year.

To sum up, a good password is long, uses multiple characters, easy to remember but tough to steal, used in only one place, and changed regularly.

For more tips and information on passwords, visit our website, at www.securitymatters.iu.edu