Update: Here are a few more suggestions some that I made in my original post and other I didn’t. These were taking from a MacWorld article, The Art of Creating Strong Passwords.
- Substitute numbers for letters and vice versa. (o instead of 0, 4 instead of A, 1 instead of L, E instead of 3)
- Substitute words for numbers (one, two , three…)
- Combine both the of above (0ne, thr33, f1ve)
- Use capitalization in random places (bLue, happY)
- Use special characters ( !@#$%^&*(){}[] ) to punctuate and separate words
- Create passwords out of words, numbers or phrases you’ll remember
- Misspell words
Original Post:
Everyone seems to have a hard time coming up with good passwords. If you come up with a password, how do you know if it is a strong password or not?
Here are a couple of useful links:
Password Strength Tester
Password Generator
Other suggestions. Don’t use words in dictionaries. Maybe combine multiple words, but throw some symbols in for letters, examples: instead of using an e, use a 3, instead of an a, use an @, 1 (one) instead of an L, etc.
Maybe use the password generator above, and use a symbol instead of a letter in some of the suggestions.
http://www.cnettv.com also has a short video clip on some thing that can be done to create and remember secure passwords. Remember what they are protecting when you select them. If it doesn’t matter if someone guesses or hackes your web site, e-mail, computer, then select something easy. If it does matter, take a bit more time and figure something out stronger.
Top 10 Most Common Passwords
10. Thomas
9. arsenal
8. monkey
7. charlie
6. qwerty
5. 123456
4. letmein
3. power
2. password
1. 123
Other common guessable, but non-static passwords are
1)Â Your Address
2)Â Your phone number
3)Â The name of spouse or model of car
4)Â The dog or cat’s name