These days, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t have at least one password they use on their computer or elsewhere. From Hotmail accounts to sites that charge for premium content, these days everyone needs passwords, but often the users choose a less than ideal password to protect their private data. So let’s take a look at the anatomy of a password and identify what you should avoid and strive for.

What to avoid:

The most common mistake made (and almost everyone is guilty of it at some point in time) is choosing a password that is something from your everyday life: this includes anything from a child or loved one's name to your birthday or address. You want to avoid that, because almost anyone can find out that sort of information about you and make an educated guess to get access to your personal files. You also want to avoid using any dictionary words (that includes other languages). Hackers have developed “brute force” programs that will repeatedly try combinations of letters and numbers to guess your password, and the first thing these programs will do is try every single word in all dictionaries. So by not using a dictionary word, you’ve made their job much more difficult.

Finally, do NOT share your password or write it down. The only situation where it is acceptable to share your password is when the individual needs it (i.e. as a business partner) or it is someone whom you trust implicitly (a spouse or someone you’ve know for decades) - these are the only situations I can think of where you can really trust someone, and even then you are still taking a small risk. Your password needs to be easy for you to remember so that you don’t have to write it down, if you absolutely must write down the password, memorize is as soon as possible and then destroy the paper when you’re done.

Good password practices:

For starters, your password should be at least six characters long, but having a password longer than that never hurts! Also, if the data your password protects is very sensitive, you should replace it with a new one every few months. Once you’ve got a good password, you should practice typing it in quickly, so that you’ll be too fast if someone is trying to peek over your shoulder.

One of the most effective ways to make sure your password is secure is to use both letters and numbers in it. A great way to get a good password that’s easy to remember is to substitute letters for numbers:

Number to Letter table:

1 = I or L 2 = Z 3 = E 4 = A 5 = S 6 = b 7 = Z 8 = B 9 = g

So for instance, if your regular password is “dogfood”, instead of using just letters you could start using “d0gf00d” for your password.

In conclusion:

Now you know how to ensure you’ve chosen a good password. Feel free to use this checklist to help you evaluate your passwords quickly.

BAD:

[ ] contains personal information (child/partner’s name, birthday, etc.)

[ ] is a dictionary word (foreign or otherwise)

[ ] has been shared with others

GOOD:

[ ] is at least 6 characters long

[ ] contains both letters and numbers

[ ] is changed every few months

[ ] easy to remember, so you don’t have to write it down