Passwords should be
easy to remember but hard to guess
The best candidate for easy to remember passwords are
personal details like names or birthdays. However, they are the easiest to
guess, especially for people who post their personal details on facebook. If
you really want to use personal details, then you can do the following to turn
them into a complex password.
1.
Capitalize some of the letters.
2.
Include numbers and symbols.
3.
Convert some letters into numbers.
4.
Make it at least eight characters.
5.
Convert numbers into words.
6.
As an alternative, you can use brand names of
your favorite stuff.
Passphrases—the
better alternative
Walt Nelson, our 4D database mentor back in 1990, taught us
to use long phrases for passwords. His suggestion still applies today. Phrases can
be a quote, the title of a movie, an old TV show, or the title of a book. Just add
some numbers or symbols to comply with website requirements.
Testing your
passwords’ strength
Here is a Microsoft page that allows you to check for
password strength:
Below are some passwords that I tried and their
corresponding strength in parenthesis:
All in 1 Day's Work! (best)
P@ssw0rd! (medium)
65FordMustang! (best)
becarefulwithmyheart (strong)
Fast and Furious 2013 (best)
My 2013 Security is Lame! (best)
April One 2013 (best)
Multiple Passwords (strong)
Managing multiple
passwords
Using the same password for all sites is quite risky, but
remembering multiple secure passwords is not easy. One way of remembering them
is to think of characters that you can easily link to the specific website then
adding that to your standard password. It will not be as strong as a unique
password, but it is better than using the same password for all websites and is
easier to remember too. Examples are as follows:
bee + password (BPI)
password + Oh (BDO)
fez + password (FB)
yo! + password (yahoo)
Some techies recommend using password managers. As long as
the encryption happens on your device and you do not save the key then you are probably
safe. If you really want to use it, choose one from a reputable developer.
Securing your email
What is the normal procedure for recovering forgotten
passwords in most websites? Password reset via email. This means that anyone
who has access to your email has the capability to hijack your accounts. So how
do you secure your email account?
1.
Create a separate email account exclusively for
financial matters and never publish it.
2.
Create an email password that is different from
your other website passwords.
3.
Never leave your email client open when you are
away. Anyone can request for a password change on your other website account
and approve it on your open email client.
4.
Never click the Save Password option, not even on your home
computer and most especially not on your mobile phones and tablets.
/royc
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