Password Creation and Management

In July, the topic for our Tech Tuesday class was how to create and manage strong passwords. For those who were unable to attend the class, here are a few tips for choosing (and remembering) passwords:

1. Choose a different username/password combination for each website.

This means not using the same password for everything. And please forget about using passwords such as “123456”, “password” or your date of birth.

2. Do not use a person’s name or words that can be found in the dictionary.

A brute force attack by a computer will easily find words in the dictionary.

3. Randomly substitute numbers for letters that look similar.

One way to create words not found in the dictionary is to follow Tip #3. For example, the letter ‘e’ becomes the number ‘3’ — k3yb0ard

4. Use a combination of upper-case, lower-case and special characters.

To make that combination even stronger, you should use all the characters available on your keyboard –upper-case, lower-case, special characters and numbers. E.g. K3yb0@rD
How much stronger is this combination? Adding just one capital letter and one asterisk would change the processing time for an 8-character password from 2.4 days to 2.1 centuries.

5. Create a base password in combination with a rule you have created.

I got this tip from Lifehacker and it helps you remember 100 different passwords with 1 rule set. How does this work? First, you need to create a base password.

Choosing your base password:

first letter of a phrase or song refrain — “LOAJP” (Leaving on a Jet Plane)
use a pre-established keyboard pattern — “qaz” or “uiop”
spouse’s initials and anniversary — “FRT0901”
choose your spouse’s initials or an easy word like “dog” and then shift your fingers up one row on the keyboard when you type it. “dog” = “e9t”

Second, you need to come up with a special rule that incorporates the service’s name or something unique about it. In other words, something memorable that will help you associate the service with the password.

Example: base password + first and last letter of the service name with your initials

Password for Dropbox: FRT0901dxjr

Password for Flickr: FRT0901frjr

6. Use a password manager such as LastPass or KeePass.

Password managers are great because you only have to remember one master password (make it a good one by following tips #1-4). Also, most have a built-in password generator so you don’t even have to come up with your own strong passwords.

How do you create and remember strong passwords? Let us know in the comments section.