A strong password, by definition, is a password that is both complex AND secure (contains numbers, letters, and special characters that do not include personal information such as name or birth date). We should all be using these types of passwords to protect ourselves from potential hackers and thieves, but the sad truth is that most of us are still taking the easy way out. These easy passwords are about as effective as NBC’s late night talk show programming strategy.
Although we like to cover a different topic almost every day, there are some topics that are worth covering again and again. Of course, our favorite is PC maintenance, but we do have a few others up our sleeve. Today, thanks to a recent white paper released by Imperva, we find ourselves once again talking about strong passwords and why you should use them.
The following was taken from the white paper titled Consumer Password Worst Practices, published by Imperva:
“In December 2009, a major password breach occurred that led to the release of 32 million passwords. Further, the hacker posted to the Internet the full list of the 32 million passwords (with no other identifiable information). Passwords were stored in cleartext in the database and were extracted through a SQL Injection vulnerability. The data provides a unique glimpse into the way that users select passwords and an opportunity to evaluate the true strength of these as a security mechanism. In the past, password studies have focused mostly on surveys. Never before has there been such a high volume of real-world passwords to examine.”
The paper goes on to explain the findings of their examination in great detail, but we will save you from the grimy details and take you straight to the meat of the research, the passwords themselves.
What NOT to do!
My first reaction is to laugh. My second is to scream. I could easily go off on a rant here, but I hope that the passwords speak for themselves. To reiterate a line from one of our previous articles, “Our information and our lives depend on our ability to protect what is important from potential thieves.” It is up to you to protect yourself. No one else is going to pick your password for you.
Here are some tips to creating a strong password:
- Length – 8 or more characters are the minimum. 14 or more are ideal.
- Complexity – The greater the variety of characters, the better. Use the entire keyboard.
- Easy to remember, hard to guess – Make it something personal, but change it up with special characters and a little creativity.
If you would like to know more about strong passwords and how to create one, here are some other articles for you to read:
Protect Yourself and Your Information With Strong Passwords (JumpstartMyPC.com – blog)
Create Strong Passwords (Microsoft.com – Online Safety Article)
How To Create Strong Passwords That You Can Remember Easily (MakeUseOf.com – blog)
Tags: Hackers, Imperva, Password, Security, Strong Passwords, Thieves, White Paper
