How to Make More Secure Passwords

By Chris Devine

With so many incidents of hacking and password cracking in the

news lately, one must be wondering: How do I prevent myself from being

the next victim? Where do I even begin? The answer is quite simple.

Create a secure password for all of your accounts. Most passwords

users make are extremely easy for them to remember, but are also

ridiculously painless to crack for those who wish to do harm.

The website ‘How Secure Is My Password’ is a great tool to use that

tells how easy or hard it would be to compromise your password. For

example, one of the most commonly used words, “password” would be

cracked instantly. Contrast that with something like, “Pa$5w0rd

1$N0tMyP@$5w0rd” would take 194 septillion years for even the most

sophisticated of cracking software to break.

Noticed what I did there? I didn’t use a word, but a phrase. Using a

phrase makes the password lengthy, which in turn is more secure. It

also makes it more memorable, that way one doesn’t have to write it

down and create a HUGE security risk that someone can find in your

office and use against you or your company. Numbers, capitalized

letters and special characters also help make your phrase that much

more secure.

Speaking of which, let’s go back to the one I used earlier. What would

happen if I put spaces in between the words?

“Pa$5w0rd1$N0tMyP@$5w0rd” becomes “Pa$5w0rd 1$ N0t My P@$5w0rd”,

instantly upping the amount of time it would take to 2 undecillion

years. Not only that, but by doing so, it tricks most cracking

software into thinking that only the first word in the phrase is the

full password. They are not able to get the rest, because it thinks

that the space is the end. Thus, making it impossible to break into.

Hopefully, you can use these tips to your advantage and make your data

much more secure and resistant to being stolen by unsavory types.