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Security Guide

paSSWordS and paSSWord etIQuette

Many forms of computer security use passwords phrase, “I was born at 3:00 AM in Rome, New York.” That
to control access to systems and data. Most likely, you have phrase yields the password Iwba3:00AMiR,NY which is a
a university account that you access with a username and strong password that is easily remembered.
password. When you set up that account, you were prob- Once you have a strong password you want to avoid
ably advised to use a “strong password.” That’s good ad- reusing the same password at every site you visit. Not all
vice, but what is a strong password? Probably not “sesame,” sites provide the same level of protection for your data. In
but what then? fact, sometimes they lose your password to hackers. Then
Microsoft, a company that has many reasons to pro- hackers can use those passwords to access other sites that
mote effective security, provides the following guidelines you regularly use. Password variety is your friend. Never
for creating a strong password. A strong password should: use the same password for less important sites (e.g., social
networking) that you’d use to access more important sites
• Have at least 10 characters; 12 is even better (e.g., online banking).
• Not contain your username, real name, or company You also need to protect your password with proper
name behavior. Never write down your password, do not share
• Not contain a complete dictionary word in any language it with others, and never ask others for their passwords.
• Be different from previous passwords you have used Occasionally an attacker will pretend to be an administrator
• Contain both upper- and lowercase letters,
numbers, and special characters (such as ~ ! @;
# $ % ^ &; * ( ) _+; - =; { } | [ ] \ : “ ; ‘ <; >;? , ./)

Examples of good passwords are:
• Qw37^T1bb?at
• 3B47qq<3>5!7b
The problem with such passwords is that they are
nearly impossible to remember. And the last thing
you want to do is write your password on a piece
of paper and keep it near the device where you
use it. Never do that!
One technique for creating memorable,
strong passwords is to base them on the first let-
ter of the words in a phrase. The phrase could
be the title of a song or the first line of a poem or
one based on some fact about your life. For ex-
ample, you might take the phrase, “I was born in
Rome, New York, before 2000.” Using the first let-
ters from that phrase and substituting the charac-
ter < for the word before, you create the password
IwbiR,NY<2000. That’s an acceptable password,
but it would be better if all of the numbers were
not placed on the end. So, you might try the
Source: iQoncept/Fotolia
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