Getting back to work after the holidays can be tough, especially if your password expired while you were away. As access to your company network or mobile devices becomes more common, your password requirements to log into networks or applications will be more stringent. Requiring stronger passwords that need to be changed more often. Strong passwords are generally longer, include different types of characters and are as random as possible to make it harder for outside sources to guess passwords. This also makes passwords more difficult to remember, especially if you need to change it every few months.
Here are some differences between strong and weak passwords:
Weak Passwords include:
- Single or double English, or non-English. Words like chat or chatchat
- Common phrases
- Names of family members, pets or meaningful dates
- Default passwords like password, admin, guest, even common substitutions like Pa$$w0rd
- Less than 8 characters
Strong Passwords include:
- Upper and lower case letters
- At least one symbol
- At least one number
- At least 8 characters
Now that you know the basic elements of strong and weak passwords, here is one method you can use to build a meaningful, strong password.
First try using a phrase or selection of words or characters that are meaningful to you (but not to anyone else) as a base word. As an example, since it’s a new year. The theme from “auld Lang Syne”
SOABF (Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot)
Next, you can add some numbers to make the password stronger for the log in.
SOABF6941
This is a good password, but still not strong enough because it needs at least one symbol. You can switch out the “S” for a “$”
$OABF6941
When you go to change the password next time, you can change the base using a new song or just substitute the numbers.
Happy new year and safe computing.
