Guide to Secure Passwords

Passwords are an essential part of any security policy. They are the main (and usually only) line of defense against computer intrusion. With access to a global network like the Internet, it is extremely important that you have a password that is difficult to guess. This makes it difficult for any would-be hackers to break into your system remotely.

There are 5 main principles in the selection of a good password:

• Do not use words or word combinations that can be found in the dictionary. These types of passwords can easily be broken by cracking programs easily found on the internet.
  
  
• Be sure your password is at least 6 characters long, 8 or more is better. The longer your password is, the longer it will take a hacker or cracking program to try figure it out. Adding a few characters could add days or weeks to the time it would take to crack it, thus discouraging many would-be hackers.
  
  
• Try to use upper and lower case letters. Many passwords are case sensitive which basically means that upper and lower case letters are not considered the same. For example, 'N' is not the same as 'n' in a password
  
  
• Using numbers in your password also makes it much more difficult to guess.
  
  
• Have at least one symbolic character in your password. Examples of symbolic characters are: &, $, *, ', #, @, etc. . .

Examples of Good and Bad Passwords:

Ant - Very insecure password. This word can most likely be guessed or easily cracked with a cracking program.

Lemonade - Another bad password.

LemoNaDe - Better password but still not good. We've added upper case letters. It is still a word that can be found in a dictionary and easily guessed.

L3m0NaD3 - Better password yet. We've now added numbers ('3' in place of 'e' and '0' in place of 'o').

L3m0N@D3 - Much better password. Replaced 'a' with '@'. This password fills all the above requirements.

 

Additional Thoughts:

While we have shown a progression from a standard word to a decent password, it is still a better idea to create one that was never a word to start with. It is usually a good idea to create something with a password using only information you would know.

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