Friday, December 3, 2010

Strong Passwords (how to create and use them)

Strong passwords are important protections to help you have safer online transactions.  Keys to password strength are length and complexity.  An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers. Whenever possible, use at least 14 characters or more.  The greater the variety of characters in your password, the better  Use the entire keyboard, not just the letters and characters you use or see most often.  Create a strong password you can remember.  It is important to test your password with a password checker.
Do not let anyone see your password, but write it down.  Do not create a password with any dictionary words in any language because they are vulnerable.  Also, try to avoid abbreviations, personal information, or sequences/repeated characters.  Cyber criminals can use sophisticated tools that can decipher a password.

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