What do email, online banking, cell phone and prepaid/credit card accounts have in common? Besides the fact that most of us would be lost without them, they all contain sensitive information and require passwords to gain access. But if you think you’re being clever by using your birthday to protect your accounts, you could be in for a rude awakening. Strong passwords are often the last line of defense against criminals using your own info against you. So if your passwords are on the wimpy side, now’s the time to beef them up!
1. Being Popular is Bad
The last thing you want is a password that’s easy to guess. According to SplashData, the most popular password for 2012 was the same as the year before: “password.” Funny? Not really. It’s especially not funny to wake up to an alert that says you just went on a Caribbean cruise without even leaving your house.
2. Mix it Up
It’s a lot harder for cyber criminals to guess a password if it contains a random mixture of letters, numbers and punctuation symbols. And you should definitely use a unique password for each of your most important accounts (ex/ bank and email). No duplicates allowed!
3. Size Matters
When it comes to passwords, longer = safer, so make them 8 or more characters long. It’s much harder to guess a big word than a small one. Even harder is guessing an entire sentence or phrase you’ve turned into a password. For example, “Jamie and I went to San Francisco last summer 2012,” can become “J&Iw2SFls12″ — go ahead and get creative!
4. Don’t Make it Personal
Personal information, such as birthdays, addresses and phone numbers, is easy for hackers to find. It’s this info they’ll use first when trying to guess a password. Keep that in mind next time you want to use your birth date for something as important as a bank account.
5. Remember it!
Passwords should be hard for criminals to guess, but not for account holders to remember. If a person has a password they can’t remember, they’re much more likely to write it down or save it somewhere on their computer. This can end up making it even easier for the wrong people to access their personal information.