Exposing bad passwords. What is your password?

 

Passwords should be long, strong and secure however here is an example of how people can be manipulated into giving details about their lives to get the information.

Recently, Jimmy Kimmel has done a great job at this by sending a reporter out to the streets to ask people a very simple question, “what is your password?”  This experiment was simple, find out what people use to create passwords and then get them to reveal details to make it possible to guess their password.

The late night show has shown how people use their easy to remember information such as a pets name, a memorable date or school.  Security experts agree that using a date in your password is weak as it is actually easy to guess. The big problem for most people is that passwords are hard to remember and good security involves many aspects including non-dictionary words, long sequences and special characters.

Many people use the same recurring password on multiple different services such as Facebook, Instagram, Gmail and many other services however the problem here is if one of those websites get compromised or anyone finds out your password, they will have access to everything online.

Here are five steps to create a secure password:

  1. Use length to your advantage. Create a password that has eight or more characters as the longer the password the more secure.
  2. Form a “random” sequence of words and/or letters. Create a unique phrase or series of letters that is seemingly “random” but is easy to remember.
  3. Add numbers to the password to make it more secure. By adding numbers, you are making your password more unique and secure. Try to avoid special dates as the numbers used.
  4. Use punctuation and symbols. Add random punctuation or symbols to your password.
  5. Use upper and lowercase letters. Use capital letters to your advantage and take advantage of the security it creates.

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