Quick and Safe Password Selection Tips

by K. Tradowsky

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This really applies to your personal internet security. Follow these basic guidelines and you greatly reduce the chances of ever having your passwords broken or security compromised.

NEVER select your password to match your username. This is the most common mistake- and the most easy to exploit. NEVER do it. If you have- change it.

NEVER use passwords that are named after your name, family, pets or dates. Ingenious crackers will use this information to reverse engineer(figure out) your password.

AVOID using words that are in the dictionary. These are easy to "brute force".

AVOID adding a digit in front of or reversing a word (irish ---> hsiri) are not good password choices. Crackers routinely try these combinations.

DO NOT use the same password over and over. If a hacker should break one password, the rest of your information or files will be safe. If you have used the same password over and over- they will have no problem accessing the rest of your files.

NEVER give your password to anyone. This is common sense but one of the most common ways passwords gets stolen. Here we have some good password habits to develop:

Change passwords frequently. This is a top notch way to stop hackers in their tracks.

Use long alpha-numeric strings with special characters if possible. Ensure you are able to remember the number!

Store your passwords in an encrypted file or somewhere where passing traffic cannot see it.

Password Keeper: Remember your passwords are your front line of defense against crackers. This utility lets you store your frequently used passwords as well as edit and print them. Each password file that you create can contain up to 1,000 account entries. Password Keeper data files are stored in an encrypted format to prevent unauthorized users from accessing and viewing them. Passwords can be copied to the clipboard and pasted into other login programs. Password Keeper can be configured to place its program icon in the system tray. The software is free to try but $20.00 to register.

This article is copyright 2005 by XBlock.com.
It may not be reprinted or copied without the express written consent of the author.

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