4 Tips for Creating Strong Passwords To Secure Your Accounts | Technology Professional

4 Tips for Creating Strong Passwords To Secure Your Accounts

Every day, people use passwords to login to numerous accounts including -logging into their computer, email accounts, online bill payment, online banking and any other account that requires a password for access.

Despite several major Security Breaches in large computer networks – such as the one at the popular blog site “The Gawker” – PC users are still not using strong passwords to secure their accounts.

The Security Breach at the Gawker exposed a number of weak passwords and left a ton of user accounts open to the public. It was reported that in this breach, there were a total of 1.25 million accounts exposed-which included decrypted passwords and user email accounts were compromised and posted to the Pirate Bay. Of the decrypted passwords that were exposed, the top 10 that were commonly used were:

1. Password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)

Talk about setting your accounts up for easy access to Hackers! Weak passwords like these will surely do just that.

There are several techniques that hackers are using to steal passwords. Some of these methods include: Phishing, Guessing, and Dictionary based attacks.

Phishing takes place when a hacker sends an email to a user-that looks like it’s coming from a legitimate source. An example of a phishing email is one pretending to from your bank asking you for your account information. When the account information is entered, the phisher then steals it.

Guessing passwords and using Dictionary based attacks are one in the same. These techniques involve the use of software programs to either “guess” your password and to run every word in the dictionary -in hopes of stealing your password.

In spite of numerous security breaches and data theft, people still don’t realize how easy it is for a hacker to gain access to their accounts when they use weak passwords-given the right opportunity. If someone cracks or steals your passwords, they would be able to gain control of your email, bank accounts, and access a ton of other personal information. This is why it is so important that computer users are made aware of the security risks involved with using weak passwords.

Using strong passwords to secure your accounts can help tremendously in preventing outside intruders from gaining access to your computer and online accounts.

Below are 4 Tips that can be used for Creating Strong Passwords to secure your accounts:

#1. Use a combination of upper and lower cases letters, numbers, and special characters.
#2. Do not use words found in the dictionary
#3. Make sure that your passwords are at least 7 characters long
#4. Do not use passwords that contain your name, date of birth, address or other personal information.

The suggestions above are basic steps that can be taken to create a strong password for your accounts.