Tips for Strong, Secure Passwords
A strong password is your first line of defense against intruders and imposters.
Never give out your password to anyone. Never give it to friends, even if they’re really good friends. A friend could accidentally share your password with others or become an ex-friend and abuse it.
Don’t just use one password for different websites. If someone finds that one password, they could use it to break into your accounts at other sites.
Create passwords that are easy to remember but hard for others to guess. Think of a phrase such as “I left King School in 2004” and use the initial of each word like this: “IlKSi2004.”
Make the password at least 8 characters long. The longer, the better. Longer passwords are harder for thieves to crack.
Include numbers, capital letters, and symbols. If the website allows it, use a $ instead of an S or a 1 instead of an L or include an & or ! – but note that $1ngle is NOT a good password. Password thieves are onto this. But Mf$1avng (short for “My friend Sam is a very nice guy”) could be a great password.
Consider using a password manager. There are several programs or Web services that let you create a different, strong password for each of your sites. But you only have to remember the one password to access the program or secure site that stores your passwords for you. Two such programs are RoboForm (Windows only) and Lastpass (Windows and Mac).
Don't fall for "phishing" attacks. Be careful before clicking on any link asking you to log in, change your password, or provide any personal information, even if it appears to be from a legitimate site. It might be a "phishing" scam where the information you enter goes to a hacker. When in doubt, log on manually by typing what you know to be the site's URL into your browser window.
Make sure your computer is secure. The best password in the world might not help if someone is looking over your shoulder while you type (in real life or virtually) or if you forget to log out at a shared computer. Malicious software, including “keyboard loggers” that record all of your keystrokes, can steal passwords and other information. To increase security, make sure you're using up-to-date antivirus software and that your operating system is current.
Consider a “password” for your mobile phone too. Many phones can be locked so that the only way to use them is to type in a code. People can find or steal unlocked phones and use them to steal your personal information, make calls, or send texts that look like they're coming from you. Someone using your phone could send texts that look like you're harassing people in your address book with inappropriate images or words.
Top 10 passwords in hacked accounts:
1. “123456” used by 1666 (0.38%)
2. “password” used by 780 (0.18%)
3. “welcome” used by 436 (0.1%)
4. “ninja” used by 333 (0.08%)
5. “abc123” used by 250 (0.06%)
6. “123456789” used by 222 (0.05%)
7. “12345678” used by 208 (0.05%)
8. “sunshine” used by 205 (0.05%)
9. “princess” used by 202 (0.05%)
10. “qwerty” used by 172
11. "imissyou"
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