As users of the internet, it’s our responsibility to protect ourselves from those who would hack into our emails, social media profiles and online data storage accounts and steal our information.
Creating a strong and unique password is the number one thing an individual can do to safeguard their online information.
Last year, SplashData conducted its annual survey of the year’s worst passwords. The results found that ‘123456’, ‘password’, ‘qwerty’, ‘dragon’ and ‘football’ all featured in the top 10 commonly used and most easily hacked passwords. You can view the full list of SplashData’s 25 worst passwords of 2014 at PRWeb.com.
In order to create a hack-proof password you should think laterally. You will need to think of a password that no other person can guess and that you will be able to remember. A random mix of letters, numbers and symbols is usually a very safe bet. You can employ the convenient placement of the ‘123456’, ‘qwerty’ and ‘!@#$%*’ keys to formulate a unique mix of characters, that are only relevant to you. Just steer clear of using birth dates, names and other easy-to-guess configurations relating to you.
If you want to simplify the password process even more, you could think of the place a family member was born/lives/attended school etcetera and make it your password. You can then add a random number to the end, such as their street address or year they got married – e.g. ‘MyGrandmaLivesInTurkey23’. These long, complex, personal passwords are quite difficult to hack, yet are easy to remember.
So that you don’t forget your passwords, consider writing them all down and keeping them in a safe place, or you can opt for using a password manager.
For more information about storing passwords safely online, read this YourLifeChoices article for best password managers.