a chastity belt for your computer
There were a couple of tweets today (and if you don’t know what that means, head straight to social media dungeon) that referenced password security. Most of us have to have a password to get us into easily two dozen sites.
But some folks are kind of lazy about it OR as I have found, some folks just don’t put that much thought in passwords and that, sincerely, is a bad thing
So for whatever its worth, here is an amalgamation of ideas for creating a really good password for your system. Nothing I suppose is foolproof but you should at least make the effort to lock your doors more securely within your online home.
> You have to use more than six (6) characters in your password and many folks say try eight (8). I saw I guy I know once type about four (4) characters in for a password; he and I had a chat about that!
> Use upper AND lowercase within your password
> You know those characters on the keyboard above the numbers? Integrate them into your password. An example might be if you had an “s” in your password, substitute the “$”. Or just include the symbol randomly…whatever works for your memory best
> One rule of thumb that I thought was pretty smart was do not use a word you can find in a dictionary as a password, it’s too easy for bad guys to run their software that rips through basic password options like that stuff much like a hot knife through butter
> Don’t use other easily remembered stuff like license plates, mother’s maiden name or pet names – the sort of password verification Q&A stuff that we’ve all filled out on sites in case we forget our passwords
> Stay on a regular schedule of changing passwords- doesn’t matter if you change the whole thing or only part of it. But do NOT write it down or share it with anyone
> You also shouldn’t save your passsword in any files on your computer (such as an email)
Now, there are many more qualified folks than me to give you insight into all this but these are some of the tricks I’ve learned. I hope they help you stay safe.
