Password 101 and a New Year's Resolution: Making Sure Your Password Is Difficult to Break

by Mark Pribish - ID Theft Professional

For example, the process of guessing a password can be related directly to personal information readily available ranging from public databases to social media sites. This means your password(s) can be at risk of being stolen when any hacker or a perpetrator has specific knowledge about you (or your family) such as your mother’s maiden name, the city in which you were born, the first school you attended, the name of your pet, the name of your children, along with your favorite color, music, movie, book, food, sports team, etc.

An example of password cracking or breaking is when attempts are made using a series of words or a combination of words, numbers and/or characters to try and guess a password. Password cracking or breaking can be especially effective when there are an unlimited number of password attempts.

The purpose of this article is to remind you that using a weak password is like leaving the keys in your car or the front door of your house open – where the risk of theft will increase significantly under these circumstances.

Another purpose is to educate you on the common mistakes individuals unknowingly make when using a weak (easy to guess) password to access a personal or work computer or when accessing by phone the computers of their financial institutions, pensions and 401-K plans, credit card balances, frequent airline and hotel programs, and other confidential information inside the databases of any personal, professional, or business relationship.

Based on the above and how individuals can become victims of ID Theft by using a weak password, every individual should know that no password is unbreakable and every individual should be aware of and responsible for good password management.

Good password management means that you have created a password that is difficult to guess and easy to remember.

That said, I have listed below some tips for creating a strong password including:
• Make it difficult by combining letters and numbers with a minimum of 8 characters.
• Make it more difficult by combining mixed-case words, numbers, punctuation, symbols and letters.
• Make it the highest degree of difficulty by using as long a password as possible. Remember you can use entire phrases or sentences as passwords.
• Change your password on a regular basis (e.g. monthly or quarterly basis).
• Change your password more often when it is related to critical sensitive information (e.g. online banking).
• Never use a default password. Instead, always change the default password to a new and more difficult password immediately.
• Do not use common passwords like "password, God, love, money, private, secret, or asdf."
• Do not use consecutive numbers like 12345 or 54321 – as either the password or when adding to a password.
• Do not use personal information like names, initials, zip codes, birthdays, pets, or license plates.

Now that you’ve created a strong password double-check the strength at Microsoft’s free online password strength checker found here .

Finally, some common threats to your password(s) being stolen include pharming, phishing, pre-texting, skimming, spoofing spyware, and vishing (or voice phishing).

To learn more about these threats and how to protect yourself and your family from Identity Theft, you can read my past newsletters at the Merchants Identity Theft Educational Website .

This article courtesy of Merchants Information Solutions, Inc., provider of IDSafeChoice identity theft protection services for customers of our bank. Learn how you can receive these services – click here.