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What Is a Strong Password?
5 Steps To Create a Strong Password
Anyone can create a strong password as long as they follow some simple guidelines. Essentially, you want to make the password at least 12 characters long. When creating a password, don’t stick with letters and numbers; incorporate symbols into the password. Refrain from using personal data that someone can obtain through a simple social search about you. When you do use full words, combine words that are unrelated and avoid spelling words as they are in the dictionary.
Here are the steps to create your own strong passwords.
1. Make It 12 Characters or Longer
The longer the password, the better. But 12 is the minimum length to create a challenging and secure password. This is because it takes hackers more work to create the number of possible sequences when hacking. A 12 character password with three uppercase letters, four lowercase letters, two numbers, and three special characters will have 475,920,314,814,253,376,475,136 combinations. This is estimated to take nearly 7.5 million years to hack.
2. Use a Combination of Letters, Numbers and Symbols
Your password is more secure when you use letters, numbers and symbols in the sequence. The letters should be a combination of upper and lower case letters. Don’t just capitalize the first letter; mix them up. Use special characters, such as punctuation, to break up the letters and numbers.
3. Do Not Use Personal Data
Many people will use a pet’s name or their birthday when creating a password. Avoid this, as it is usually public information found through your social media profiles and history. Stay away from using things like the street you grew up on, your dog’s name, or your favorite hobby. These things are easily disclosed and are frequently questions on those common social media surveys where people just want to get to know their friends better. These become siphons of personal data used to hack your accounts to steal your identity.
4.Combine Unrelated Words
Don’t use a phrase that makes sense. Put word combinations together that aren’t anything that someone would guess. Avoid using song lyrics, movie titles or other famous quotes. Use three or four longer words mixed with numbers and special characters.
5. Avoid Words As They Are In the Dictionary
You should do more than just combine unrelated words. Make them unhackable. This can be difficult to do but can be accomplished by intentionally including spelling errors with words. You can also substitute numbers or special characters for letters to make it more difficult to crack. Remember, the less straightforward your password is, the less likely it is to get hacked.
