Things You'll Need:
- A computer
- An account that you want to protect with a strong password
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Step 1
Never use a dictionary word. Don't think that you are safe if you add a couple numbers to the end (e.g. password123). Attackers can easily find these passwords with minimal effort.
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Step 2
Never use personal information. This includes the name of your spouse, your birth date, your favorite food or any other information that someone who knows you would be able to guess.
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Step 3
Never use a password that is the same as your username or account number. Attackers often guess those first.
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Step 4
Never use the same password for every website. If you were to do this and the attacker was to find your password then the attacker would be able to access all of your accounts.
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Step 5
Make your password as long as possible. The longer it is, the more secure it is from brute force attacks. It should be at least 8 characters long.
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Step 6
Use as many different characters as you can. Use punctuation marks, numbers, symbols, and a mixture of upper and lower case letters. This will significantly decrease the chances that an attacker will find your password using a brute force attack.
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Step 7
If you are having trouble picking a strong password, then use my formula:
Think of a word or phrase that is unique to you. Then replace some letters with numbers or symbols (e.g. a becomes @, i becomes !, o becomes 0, s becomes $). This will be your base password. Go to www.passwordmeter.com and enter your base password to see how strong it is. Follow any recommendations it may give you. Now when you need to create a password for a website you should use your base password in conjunction with the website name or some other unique identifier. For example, if your base password was "$!mp$0n" and you were creating a password for your Gmail account, then your password might be "$!mp$0nGm@!l". It's as easy as that!
