CREATING the perfect password to protect your private information is more complex than it seems.
To keep your accounts safe from hackers, it’s best to create long, unpredictable passwords.
Password entropy measures the difficulty of guessing the password based on its number of characters.
It can also determine the likelihood that a hacker can break into an account.
Character length and variation are considered to determine how easy it would be to guess your password.
To create a strong password, it’s important to completely avoid simple assumptions like “1234” or “password.”
Hackers can also use social media to find your mailing address or the name of your pet, so it’s best to avoid these password examples as well.
Keeper Security experts recommend creating a password of at least 16 characters.
The longer the password, the more combinations there are and the more difficult it is to guess.
Passwords should also include a variation of upper and lower case letters to ensure uniqueness.
It is also preferable for passwords to include random numbers and symbols.
Personal information is not recommended as it is easy to guess.
Using consecutive numbers or letters when creating a strong password is also not recommended.
Common dictionary words or phrases are also discouraged.
These features will decrease the chances of accounts being hacked.
Even if the password is unique to you, hackers will likely be able to crack it.
A security team called Home Security Heroes used an AI password tracker to see how easy it was to guess common passwords.
The experiment found that passwords with four or five characters were instantly guessed, regardless of whether numbers, lowercase or uppercase letters, and symbols were used.
Even passwords of up to seven characters were guessed in a matter of minutes.
PASSWORD MANAGEMENT
Most people create simple passwords that are easy to remember and use them for multiple accounts.
PASSWORD RULES – DO NOT BREAK THEM
Here are some important tricks to follow, as revealed by Keeper Security…
- Be sure to use a combination of upper and lower case letters. It is much easier to “crack” a password if it only uses lowercase letters.
- Never include personal information such as your date of birth, address, much less your name.
- Make sure each password is at least 12 characters long. This will significantly increase the time it would take a hacker to crack your login.
- Include symbols whenever you can. Not all services allow this, but if you can add question marks, exclamation marks, hash symbols, and slashes, your password will be much more secure.
- Be sure to use varied and non-sequential numbers. So instead of having 1234 at the end of your password, mix them up and use a random order.
- Avoid, as far as possible, using words found in the dictionary in your password.
This exposes you to cybersecurity threats and makes it easier for hackers to compromise your accounts.
Using a password generator is an effective way to create unique and complicated passwords for different accounts.
It may also be easier to create a password that is a sequence of words.
Using a passphrase will help you meet the 16-character recommendation and is easier to remember than a combination of numbers and letters.
It is good practice to create a passphrase with linked words rather than common letters or phrases that can be easily guessed.
Keeper Security also recommends investing in a password manager to protect against cybercriminals.
