Password creation is a huge deal, and believe it or not, most people are doing it in all of the wrong ways. So, in light of data security, I compiled a list of the Do’s and Don’ts of password creation for your convenience:
Don’ts
- Don’t choose something obvious (kids’ names, pet name, etc).
- Don’t use the same password for everything.
- Don’t share your password over email or IM.
- Don’t use “password” as your password.
- Don’t use your username as your password.
- Don’t use your social security, or any part of it, as your password.
- Don’t use any word in the dictionary as your password.
- Don’t use all letters or all numbers in your password.
- Don’t use a word spelled backwards as your password.
- Don’t use sample passwords given on websites.
- Don’t share your password with anyone.
- Don’t use a password less than six characters.
- Don’t use anything that your friends could guess as your password.
- Do not use sequences or repeated characters (abcdef, 222222).
- Do not use numbers in place of letters (Pa55w0rd).
- Do not write down your passwords and keep them next to your computer.
Do’s
- Do change your password regularly (every 6 months).
- Do use a mixture of upper and lower case characters.
- Do use a mixture of letters and numbers.
- Do use special characters (%, $, #, etc).
- Do use a password with 8 or more characters.
- Do use different passwords for different accounts.
- Do use a password that you can type quickly without having to look at the keyboard.
- Do keep your passwords to yourself.
- Do make sure your password is memorable to YOU.