TOP 5
TIPS: for Keeping Passwords Safe
Courtesy
of Nick Forcier, CEO of Large Software www.largesoftware.com
1.
Keep ‘em Guessing
· Never use personal
information to create a username, login
or password (i.e. names of pets,
relatives, nicknames, dates of birth,
birth location, etc…). In this day
and age where information is often
finding its way onto the Web and identity
theft experts have become ever-savvy at
ferreting out these details, it is
CRUCIAL to choose usernames and passwords
that are disassociated from your personal
history. Does it make it harder to
remember? Yes, but you’ll be
thankful when you’re spared the
potentially hundreds of hours and
thousands of dollars it often costs to
fix a stolen identity.
2.
Keep it Fresh - Diversify
· Avoid using the SAME
login and password across multiple sites
and/or cards and accounts. If a thief
gains access to one, it will be like a
house of cards, allowing them to quickly
wreak havoc across your entire financial
portfolio. Are you the type that says,
"I never share my pin?"
It’s amazing how often those
"unshared" digits are misused
by jilted lover or a nosy housecleaner.
3.
Bigger is Better!
· Cliché but true. Studies
have consistently shown that a large
fraction of all user-chosen passwords are
readily guessed automatically. Shorter
passwords are more susceptible to
commercially available password recovery
tools. Such software is capable of
testing 200,000 passwords per second. To
improve the cipher strength of your
password, longer passwords are better.
Include a minimum of 8 characters –
using both upper and lower case letters
and a mix of letters, numerals and
symbols. Do not use words found in the
English dictionary.
4.
Think Like a Thief - Don’t Make it Easy on
Them
· Put yourself into a
thief’s shoes – don’t even
think about using an overly simplified
password such as "12345678,"
"222222," "abcdefg."
Avoid sequential passwords or using
passwords derived from the use of
adjacent letters on your keyboard; this
will not make your password secure. Also,
avoid using only look-alike substitutions
of numbers or symbols. Criminals and
other malicious users who know enough to
try and crack your password will not be
fooled by common look-alike replacements,
such as replacing an 'i' with a '1' or an
'a' with '@' as in
"L@rgeSoftw@re" or
"P@ssw0rd". But these
substitutions can be effective when
combined with other measures, such as
length, misspellings, or variations in
case, to improve the strength of your
password.
5.
Consider a Password Manager
· There
are many decent applications on the market that will
digitally safeguard your various passwords. Avoid using
the free ones "built-in" to browsers as these
have been widely exposed for their security flaws.
Consider software like Password Manager by Large Software
www.largesoftware.com that memorizes and securely stores
each username and password that you enter on a Web site.
Whenever you return to that site, Password Manager will
automatically complete your login information and click
the submit button, making your login a snap. The software
also includes a password generator in case you’re
having difficulty coming up with a secure login on your
own. All accounts and passwords are encrypted and
protected with a single Master Password, keeping your
confidential information secure. This offers the added
benefit of minimizing the number of logins and passwords
that you have to readily remember on a day-to-day basis.
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