Jul
26
Written by:
Senior Instructor
7/26/2007 6:29 PM
To make it more difficult for an attacker to enter into your computer systems use a strong password. How do you create a strong password?
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A password should be a minimum of eight characters in length. The longer the password the safer.
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Combine letters, numbers, and symbols. The greater the variety of characters that you have in your password the harder it is for automated password programs to guess.
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Use words and phrases that are easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess.
Some strategies to avoid:
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Sequences of repeated characters. "123456789," "qwertyuiop"
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Avoid using only look-alike substitutions for numbers or symbols. Password cracking programs have figured out people replace "i" with "1" and "a" with "@".
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Don't use any part of your name, birthday, social security number of similar information about a loved one.
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Avoid dictionary words in any language. Cracking programs use multiple dictionaries including words spelled backwards, common misspellings and substitutions.
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Use one password everywhere. If one online system gets compromised all your passwords are compromised.
Microsoft offers an online password strength checker to test your password.
This tip comes from Lena Wood. Lena is part of our IT Services division.
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