Creating secure passwords

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StuartR
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Joined: 16 Jan 2010, 15:49
Location: London, Europe

Creating secure passwords

Post by StuartR »

Hans has just made a post in our Words from On High forum, reminding people to create passwords that are hard to guess.

Here are some suggestions for things you should think about when creating a password.
  • Don't use the same password on multiple sites. One common scam is to set up a fake web site offering free downloads or games, but requiring registration, and then trying out the email address and password you supply on lots of other sites
  • Store your passwords in a safe location, for example an encrypted Word or Excel file or one of the many tools designed for this purpose
  • Don't use a word from the dictionary as your password
  • Don't use your name, or username, or anyone else's name as your password
  • Use mixed characters, including uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation
  • The best way to create a password is to base it on a pass phrase, for example
    • I find eileen's lounge very helpful
    • Take the first letters - ifelvh
    • Make all the vowels uppercase - IfElvh (or all the letters between A and M or some other easy rule)
    • Add a digit or two - 1IfElvh
    • Add a punctuation mark or symbol - 1IfElvh@
  • And there you have a password that is easy to remember, unique to the site, and almost impossible to guess
StuartR


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Hey Jude
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Location: Ohio, U.S.A.

Re: Creating secure passwords

Post by Hey Jude »

I was one of those who received that message, and I hadn't even tried logging in. I took your suggestion from awhile back Stuart and re-created all my passwords (except EL) so now will do that as well. Thank you.
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jscher2000
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Re: Creating secure passwords

Post by jscher2000 »

Hey Jude wrote:I was one of those who received that message, and I hadn't even tried logging in.
Maybe your browser tried to log in for you (i.e., saved password feature)?

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Hey Jude
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Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 15:45
Location: Ohio, U.S.A.

Re: Creating secure passwords

Post by Hey Jude »

Nope I don't have that checked. It was weird because I hadn't tried logging in except the first time and I got that message. That hadn't happened before, but thanks for the thought :-)
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