Recommendations for creating safe passwords
- A password should consist of at least 8-10 characters. The length of a password increases its safety so use the maximum number of characters allowed for your password.
- A safe password should consist of numbers and special characters. Also it is recommended to mix uppercase and lowercase letters.
- It is not safe to use a password which can be found in a dictionary. Programs for cracking passwords use dictionaries and try out all entries.
- Do not use names of your family members or your pet. Neither use phone numbers, car registration numbers, or other information which can easily be found out about you.
- Never use simple keyboard combinations such as “qwerty” or similar.
- Avoid passwords consisting of repeated characters, such an "1111".
You should change your passwords regularly. The more sensitive your information is the more often you should change your password. Passwords consisting of less than 8 characters should be changed especially often. Passwords with up to 10 characters should be changed every month, and passwords consisting of more than 12 characters may be kept for 6 months.
Example how to create a password
- Create a password by using the initial letters of a phrase you can easily remember: "I use safe keywords in Encrypt Easy" is reduced to IuskiEE. In order to make this password even safer, you simply replace the number "5" for the letter "s". Your password then reads: Iu5kiPD.
- Another method is mixing numbers with words. P1a0s2s9w2o0r0d1 is made from "password" and 10/29/2001. The date should not be a known birthday.
- Avoid using only look-alike substitutions with numbers or symbols. Hacker who know enough to try and crack your password will not be fooled by common look-alike replacements, such as to replace an 'o' with a '0' or an 'a' with '@' as in "M1cr0$0ft" or P@ssw0rd.
Warning: Never use the same password for all purposes.