Password plays a very important role in protecting your personal data and privacy both online and offline. A strong password can make your data inaccessible for any other person except you! Hence, it’s extremely necessary to keep your password as strong as possible, so that unauthorized access attempts can be prevented.
If you are using a weak password, then your privacy and security are at stake. Let’s learn in this post, how to create a strong password for your online as well as offline accounts and how to check if your existing password is weak?
Tips for creating a strong Password
1. Choose a password that is difficult to guess!
You should never create a password containing any personal information of yours. Your personal information can easily be guessed by someone who knows you well! For example, never ever use your Nick Name, Date of birth, Pet’s name, Name of your spouse, Mobile Number etc.
2. Use combination of keys
It is a good idea to use special characters from your keyboard. The more complex you make your password, the stronger it gets. The password should contain a combination of alphabets, numbers, punctuation and special characters like @, #, $, % etc.
3. Make sure your password is lengthy
An ideal password is always lengthy, with eight characters or more. You can also use a sentence or two, modified in such a way that it makes sense only to you and no one else. Use abbreviations, shorten the words, use a mix of Upper case and lower case characters.
For example, you can use MypAsswrdzRsafertenbefoR instead of MyPasswordsAreSaferThanBefore.
4. Never refer to a Dictionary for passwords
One should never use words for a password that are present in a Dictionary, be it of any language! Hackers can easily take advantage of this by using Brute Force technique.
5. Never use same password for all your accounts
One should never use the same password for different accounts, especially your important ones like bank accounts, Email etc. If a hacker manages to generate your password from a less protected website, then he can easily use it to access the secured one.
6. Do not use a password that is generated by a software
You should never use a password that is generated by any software. Always keep in mind, if one software can generate it for you, another one can do the same AGAINST you. However, you can always refer to the software generated password and then modify it.
7. Change your password frequently
No matter how strong your password is, you should change it frequently (Maybe monthly or quarterly)! Changing it is lot easier when you have full control over your Account, than trying to change the same after it gets hacked!
8. Keep a record of your own password
Forgetting your own password is the weirdest thing that can ever happen to you! In order to avoid this type of inconvenience, always keep a record of passwords of your priority Accounts somewhere safe.
9. Always be ready for the unforeseen!
Your Account may get compromised or you yourself face some unforeseen circumstances. Hence, you must always do the following:
- Keep a backup of all your data either on an external hard drive or on the Cloud.
- Always share the password of your priority bank and online accounts with a trusted member of your family or your legal representative. This helps in saving your loved ones from financial sufferings, in the event of an injury or your death!
Online services that let you check the strength of your password
Microsoft password checker
This online utility helps you to check the strength of your password and gives you various tips for improving the same.
This online utility provides detailed information about your password and gives you points according to its strength. Moreover, it deducts points for weak cases and helps you to improve them in order to make your password even more stronger.