We've all seen it on our favorite detective shows on TV. The computer expert is trying to access someone's account. In no time the expert guesses the password - it was the name of the subject's daughter.
It can happen to you. If you use passwords like names, dates, and addresses then somebody else may be able to guess them. Unscrupulous people can then gain access to your accounts.
Don't think that people can't guess your passwords. People who know you also know what you like. If they want to break into one of your accounts, they can start guessing based on the things you like. A funny example of this is the Seinfeld episode The Secret Code in which Kramer is able to guess George's ATM code.
So just what is a strong password? It is by definition is one that is hard to guess. A combination of random letters and numbers is a strong password. Including both uppercase and lowercase letters makes it stronger. Passwords also need to be long enough to make them harder to guess. It is a good idea to have your passwords at least 10 characters long. If your login allows it, including symbols such as @ or $ will make them even stronger.
An example of a strong password is "uxSivy1UQ8". An example of a password including symbols is "Q6Su4^3Gb@". Passwords like this are impossible to guess and will help keep your login accounts secure.
All this seems great in theory but hard to implement in practice. After all, how does someone create a strong password? People are just not good at coming up with random numbers and letters. If you just smash letters on your keyboard to make a password, then you will probably come up with combinations such as "qwerty" which happen to be common passwords that hackers will try. Even if you had some method of coming up with strong passwords, how would you remember them?
The answer is to use a password manager program. Such programs will generate strong passwords. They will also store them on your computer.
There are some other points to keep in mind to protect your identity. It is important to use a different password for each of your logins. This way a hacker who gains access to a password on one of your logins won't be able to use it for anything else. And of course, never give your passwords to anyone, even if they seem legitimate. So called "phishing" scams work by sending you an email that seems to be from your bank but in reality is just a trick with the purpose of getting your password. The best advice here is to never login from an email.
In summary, you can protect your identity with strong passwords by doing the following:
- Always use strong passwords, consisting of random uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers for all your logins.
- Use a password manager to generate and store your passwords.
- Use a different password for each login.
- Don't give your passwords to anyone no matter how legitimate they may seem.
- Avoid phishing scams by not logging in from emails you receive.
A powerful and user friendly password manager program is Harp Password, available at http://www.harppassword.com. With Harp Password you can generate strong passwords and store them securely on your computer.
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