Strong Password: Your key to Internet safety

Another thing you need to do in order to stay safe on the internet is to always create strong passwords for all your online accounts.

With strong passwords, your twitter, Facebook, e-mail and other online accounts would be protected from criminals that would want to access them without your knowledge and consent.

But with the weak passwords, your friends and malicious hackers could easily access your accounts without your knowledge and permission. Malicious hackers are criminals that use different security tools to break into systems on the internet without the consent of the owners.

Strong passwords would be very difficult for others to guess and for any malicious software to crack. Therefore, your passwords should be very difficult for your friends to guess and for any software to crack. However, it should be the ones you can easily remember.

Strong passwords are not less than eight characters. Therefore, your passwords should not be less than that. The longer your passwords, the stronger they would be.

Strong passwords consist of alphabets, numeric and special characters. Therefore, your passwords should be a mixture of numbers, symbols, lower and upper case letters. With such combination, it would be extremely difficult for criminals to guess them.

Strong passwords are not found in any dictionary. Therefore, your passwords should not exist as words in the English, Chinese, Spanish or any other foreign dictionary. Some criminals could use dictionary programs to crack such passwords.

Strong passwords mustn’t be names or user IDs of accounts. Therefore, your names, club names, user IDs, pet names, school and other familiar names shouldn’t be used as your passwords. Some criminals could try those names in order to break into your accounts.

Strong passwords are only entered into trusted systems. Therefore, your passwords should not be entered into systems that are not under your control; because, you never can tell if a malicious program such as key logger, or even the owner have compromised the system. Key logger is a program that records user-names and passwords, and other sensitive information as they are entered into websites. The recorded information is then saved in a special file, so that the criminals that installed the key logger, could access the file immediately the system connects to the internet.

Strong passwords are always changed periodically. Therefore, your passwords should be changed at least once every three months. This would protect your accounts from intruders, and other criminals that would have access to your passwords, without your knowledge.

Strong passwords are managed properly. Therefore, your passwords shouldn’t be written on note books or diaries, except you are totally sure that other people wouldn’t access them. And if you decide to save them in your system, you should not name their files and folders, in such a way that would expose them, to other people that would use the system in your absence.

Strong passwords are only known by their owners. Therefore, your passwords should not be shared or revealed to your friends and other people, no matter how you love and trust them. Remember, that the people you trust with your passwords might not be that careful to manage them like you do.

Strong passwords are not stored in browsers. Therefore, when next your browser suggests saving your password, you should kindly reject the offer. Because passwords that are stored in browsers could be compromised by malicious programs, without the knowledge of the owners. And browsers are always the first programs that criminals target on the internet.

Strong passwords are only entered into genuine websites. Therefore, before you start entering your password into a site, you should first check if the spelling and the address extension of the site is the same with the one you intend visiting. Some criminals could build duplicate websites of reputable organizations, in order to steal passwords from other members of the internet community. They achieve that by omitting, or transposing the web names of the duplicate websites, so they could appear like the legitimate ones.

Strong passwords are not entered into pop-up windows. Therefore, your passwords should not be entered into windows or small boxes that would appear on your web browsers, when you are connected to the internet. Some criminals could use those windows to steal your passwords, without your knowledge.

Strong passwords are properly documented. Therefore, your passwords should be properly documented, so you wouldn't re-use them in the future. Re-using or recycling your old passwords could expose your accounts to criminals, and your former friends that saw the passwords when you first created them.

Every strong password is meant for one account. Therefore, each of your accounts should have a unique and different password. These would prevent access to all your accounts, should your friends or criminals get one of your passwords without your knowledge. And more importantly, it would protect your accounts from criminally minded individuals, that work in the websites you enter your passwords.

The recovery options for strong passwords are always up-to-date and secure. Therefore, your recovery e-mail address and phone number should be valid and secure, so you can receive e-mails or text messages whenever you want to reset your passwords. And in case your account providers request that you choose a question, in order to verify your identity anytime you forget your passwords, it is important you choose a question and also provide an answer that other people can’t guess.

And you should also not forget to log-out from your accounts before you close the web page, or exit the browser window; more especially, when you are accessing your accounts from systems that are not your own.  And you should avoid going to other websites through your accounts, so you wouldn’t forget to log-out from them. Not logging-out from your accounts would totally expose the accounts, to other people that would use the system immediately after you.

Finally, if you find it difficult to remember all your passwords, you should install a trusted password manager that would help you remember them. With the password manager, you are only expected to remember the master password, in order to access the rest of your passwords.