Today’s Topic: Passwords

Throughout this week I will be posting some tips on how to keep your website (and other accounts) as secure as possible from malicious activity or unwanted intruders.

The first topic I am going to discuss is by far the easiest and most commonly use way of account exploitation: Easy Passwords.

With password cracker software out there and hackers getting smarter, it’s cheesecake for them to get owner access to your account that should be protected.

Examples of weak, vulnerable passwords:

• kelly824 (my name and day of birth) seriously, that’s easy information and anyone can figure that out.
• letmein
• opensesame
• p@ssword123
• fluffy

And the list can go on and on. You never really want to use a password (especially when it comes to your bank account) that can be found in the dictionary or a name, or any numbers that are identifiable such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc. It’s just too easy for people to crack and most sites that get hacked are done so because the admin password has been compromised.

Examples of strong passwords:

• b@b8!llA
• MSte790eq (if only numbers and letters are allowed, no special characters.)
• h!t0Pt@b1e

Password Recommendations:

• Use UPPERCASE and lowercase letters
• Use Numbers
• If allowed, use special characters such as !@#$&
• Do NOT use any easily identifiable names or numbers
• Ideally, you want your password to be as long as possible, but please try not to use a password less than 8 characters.

Have trouble remembering passwords, try KeePass Password Safe. Keeps your passwords on your computer, but encrypted and ready for you to copy and paste.

Remember, it’s the littlest things that can go so far, the same goes with website security.