TIPS ON CHOOSING PASSWORDS
Use a password that is easy to remember, so you don't
have to write it down.
How to choose an easily remembered password:
1. Choose a line or two from a song or poem, and use the first letter
of each word. For example:
"In Xanadu did Kubla Kahn a stately pleasure dome decree"
(IXdKKaspdd).
or
2. Create your own acronym
"I wish I could remember Passwords!" (IwIcrP!)
A similar method is to take the vowels out of a phrase
"I work 12 hours a day." (wrk12hrsdy)- we sincerely hope
you don't!
or
3. Alternate between a consonant and 1-2 vowels This provides nonsense
words that are usually pronounceable, and thus easily remembered. Examples
include "booboo", "quadpop", and so on.
or
4. Choose two short words and concatenate them with a punctuation
character between them. For example: "dog-bone", "table+mug",
"cat/meow".
or
5. Substitute letters for numbers or characters. o becomes 0, i becomes
1, and e becomes 3 and s becomes $. So, raincoats becomes ra1nc0at$.
or
Choose random characters by feel. Those who can type
very well can frequently choose a password based on a sequence of keystrokes
that feel natural. These passwords are usually very secure, but can
be very hard to remember.
Special programs exist to crack passwords. The passwords
that most people use can be cracked in a few minutes. (More than 80% within
20 minutes). FOR THE HIGHEST SECURITY:
Names and words are the first items a cracking program
checks. It sticks in every word and name from its dictionary to see if
one fits. No matter how long or short - it will be cracked within a matter
of minutes!
Typically, a password like "John", takes less
that 2 minutes to crack!
1. Try to include at least one special character if you're allowed to.
e.g. £ $ # ~ ? ! @ * + { = } etc.
2. Include at least one number and one Capital.
3. Don't use any numerals that can be construed as a date in the calendar,
your telephone number, your car registration plate number or anything
else that someone might be able to find out about you.
4. For ultimate security, use the maximum number of characters allowed.
Here's an example of a medium security password:
2@Ack
This can easily be remembered as "To attAck"
Or even better (because it's longer):
G8sIsA*
This can be remembered as "Gates Is A Star"
A cracking program working at 500 passwords a second
would take 600 years to break this password!
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