How To Set Strong Passwords

Passwords add the first line of defense on the internet and are very important to keep various online accounts safe. Strong passwords can help in keeping your online accounts safe from the preying eyes of hackers. But, many people don’t consider some basic criteria while selecting their passwords. They keep doing mistakes like keeping the same passwords for all their accounts for remembering them easily. Below are some tips to build strong passwords for your online accounts:

Use Unique Passwords

It is advisable to keep unique passwords for different websites and services online. Hackers generally try to first steal your password from the less secure website. If you use the same password for multiple accounts, then it will become easy for them to hack all your other accounts. However, if it is difficult for you to remember different passwords for different services, then at least try to have unique passwords for crucial accounts like email and net banking.

Avoid Common Passwords

Don’t use common passwords like your birthdays, car license plate numbers, names of friends and relatives, graduation dates, etc. These types of passwords are easier to crack by hackers. They write special programs to crack these kinds of passwords. Again, if the password that you set can be found in a dictionary, then it can be hacked easily by the password hacking programs. One smart way to overcome this problem is by using an incomplete word or a combination of incomplete words as your passwords.

Change your Passwords Frequently

Always ensure to change your passwords at intermittent intervals. This practice can help you in safeguarding your passwords from malware which can be present in different computers used by you (office computer, net café, friend’s laptop, etc.). While changing your passwords, remember to keep the password recovery options safe and up-to-date.

Use Alpha-numeric Passwords with Special Characters

Use passwords with alpha-numeric passwords for all your important online accounts. Keep the password long with as many characters as you can comfortably remember. The minimum length of your password should be at least eight characters. Keeping your passwords case sensitive and adding special characters like ‘#’ and ‘@’ to them will add some more complexity. What many people don’t know is that it is possible to have spaces in between the characters of a password.

Use Tools to Generate Strong Passwords

If you are not good in setting effective passwords on your own, then you can take the help password generating tools available online to do the task. Tools like ‘PC Tools Secure Password Generator’ generates strong passwords basing on the criteria set by you. For example these tools can make one password based on your criteria like length of the password, including or not including mixed case, numbers, punctuation, replacement of similar characters, etc.

A password should be seen more of a lock than a key. It is important to have dependable passwords for different services online to defend yourself from cyber criminals. The above tips can help you in building strong passwords for your services online.