Creating a Perfect Password

Passwords are your first line of protection against internet hackers. While it is widely believed that having a secure password alone cannot protect you from identity theft, it can help protect you from novice thieves. And combined with other measures of security, a strong password might even be able to protect you from the experts. But just what is a secure password anyway?

We’ve all heard the spiel about needing to mix both letters and numbers in order to create strong passwords. And we’ve been warned against the perils of using social security numbers, birthdates and other easily guessable information. Some of us even have auto reminders set so we will actually change our passwords every six weeks to three months for extra security. But still, many of us fall into routine habits and use the same password for all of our accounts—and it’s usually something easy for us to remember and easy for hackers to guess.

And even when we make a somewhat concerted effort to apply what we’ve been taught, it turns out gr8day2day isn’t as strong of a password as we initially thought. But perhaps that’s because we’ve been thinking too small. It turns out that the length of your password does just as much (if not more) for your safety than the overall complexity. Pass phrases are beginning to catch on, and experts agree that this might be a better way to increase the protection of your personal information. Here are some dos and don’ts when it comes to selecting the right word or phrase to keep your personal information safe.

Things You Should Never Do

1. Never continue to use a default password automatically set for you by a system or by someone else. This may sound obvious, but a surprising amount of people continue to use automated or pre-assigned passwords. There are multiple reasons this isn’t safe. One primary reason for this is that default passwords and settings are generally the same (or similar) for all employees or customers, meaning that it would be easy for someone else to hack into your system and steal private information.

2. Avoid using birthdates, names of family members or other easily guessable information. You might think it’s perfectly acceptable to use your spouse’s birthday or your oldest child’s middle name as your password for online transactions. But if an identity thief who already knows something about you, is simply trying to gain access to another one of your accounts, that date or that name might not be as hard for him or her to guess as you think.

3. Don’t use letters or numbers in sequence. Although this one might appear obvious, countless people still insist on using 12345…or abcde…as their passwords. Remember, you aren’t looking to create a password that would be easy for anyone to remember or guess. Instead you are looking to create a barrier of sorts that can help keep everyone but you away from your private information.

4. Stay away from common words used in the English (or a foreign) dictionary. Using real words—even slang words or profanity—isn’t as safe as you would initially think because of random word generating software that runs through common words as hackers are trying to get into someone else’s system.

5. Never use your ATM pin code as a password for other things. If someone is able to hack into your computer system at work, or your online bill pay account at the gas company, you don’t want him or her to have access to your pin code too. The more varied your passwords are, the better your chances of keeping security breaches isolated to only one account.  

A Step By Step Guide to Creating a Secure Password/Pass Phrase

1. Instead of thinking of a word, a name or a date, think of a sentence or phrase that would be easy for you to remember. The less generic your sentence, the stronger it will be. Instead of using something like “Friday is payday” try to think of something unique like “Aunt Clara turns 65 this year”.

2. If your password program is case sensitive, vary the letters in your sentence. Don’t vary your letters systematically (as in every other one). Instead randomly go through and capitalize letters that will be easy for you to remember so your sentence now looks something like this: “aUntcLaratUrns65ThiSyeAr.” If your password program isn’t case sensitive look into changing the settings, and if that isn’t possible then skip this step because it won’t do anything for you.

3. Substitute symbols for certain letters in your sentence. You can play with the length of your pass phrase at this point, adding and abbreviating things as you see fit. Just remember that passwords that are fourteen or more letters are strongest. When you are through with this step your password should look something like this: “aUn+cLara_tUrn$65+hi$yeAr.”

4. Write your password down and lock it in a secure location. It is much safer to write your password on a single sheet of paper and store it in a secure location, than it is to use an online or computer based password manager. If your system or your password manager gets hacked (or the word document where you conveniently store all of your passwords) gets seen by someone who shouldn’t have viewed it, all of your accounts are compromised rather than just one. But if you fail to write your password down and you forget it, then all of the time you spent crafting the perfect password has been wasted.    

Some companies (like banks or other financial institutions) tell you the strength of your password when you first register it. If your password doesn’t get a strong or very strong rating, you should revise it until it does. Think about protecting your accounts the same way you think about protecting your house. You wouldn’t want average or weak locks on your front door, so don’t leave your accounts more vulnerable than you would be willing to leave your house.

Although no single step alone can protect you from all of the ways you might be vulnerable to identity theft, increasing your safety through several different mediums will increase your odds of never becoming a victim of identity theft. So, double check your passwords and make sure you are doing all you can to keep your personal information safe.