So much of what we do is online these days and security is a big issue. Take a look at the list below and decide for yourself if it is time to make a change.
- 123456
- 12345
- 123456789
- Password
- iloveyou
- princess
- irock
- 1234567
- 12345678
- abc123
In addition, almost half of individuals use names, slang words, proper words, or trivial passwords such as consecutive digits, or adjacent keys on the keyboard.
So, what sort of password SHOULD you be using?
- It should contain at least eight characters (30% of passwords contain six letters or less)
- It should contain a mix of four different types of characters (i.e: upper case, lower case, numbers, symbols)
- It should not be a name, word, or contain any part of your name or email address
- You should also be using a different password for every website and not sharing your passwords with third parties.
A good method of password generation that you can remember is to have a personal 'key' that you use and then apply to the various sites. For example:
You could have a 'personal key' of 'One4the$'
Your password for Google would then be something like 'gooOne4the$gle' or 'One4the$google'
You would only ever have to remember your personal key and then you could have different passwords for each site that were easy for you to remember.
Stay safe out there and have a great one!
Jason Elrod
'The Real Estate Nomad Running Your Neighborhood'
