In the 20th century, passwords were used by smugglers, pirates and spies when they wanted to be discreet. In the 21st century, passwords have become an integral part of our lives.
You have a password for your ATM machine, Internet Banking, Email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Office Mail, PC and even your smartphone.
Now with so many things on the internet to sign in to, remembering all these passwords can be a pain.
And the result is that only a few permutations and combinations that make up all your passwords. Right?
So, is it safe?
The answer is NO!
We may love to keep secrets, but we are also lazy. Often, we tend to use the same password for all our web needs and sometimes even our internet banking accounts.
That leaves a lot of scope for hackers to break into our personal space in the virtual world. And they can cause serious damage, in some cases even financially.
So what’s the right way to create a password that is somewhat hack-proof, easy to remember and keeps your data safe?
Important Tips to Create a Safe Password
1. A strong password should have a minimum of 10-14 characters. The age of the 8 character password is over. A hacker can easily break into that character limit now.
2. A password that has your name, girlfriend’s name, wife’s name, parent’s name, pet’s name is just a bad idea.
Privacy is history. Remember, Google has all your data patterns and impressions on the net. A good hacker can easily access all that.
Keeping ‘Password’ as a password is the most foolish thing you can do.
3. Keep different passwords for your Email accounts, Facebook Account, Bank Accounts, Twitter Accounts etc. A repetition of pattern can be easily recognised and hacked into.
4. Mix and match is the best way to create a password. Your keyboard has numbers and special characters. Use them to your advantage. Also try using upper and lower case characters in your password.
The best passwords with all the above criteria, might not even be in English but in your native language.
Some Examples:
a. ‘tamatarjuice’ (Tomato Juice in Hindi) can be typed like ‘T4m4t4rJu!c3’
b. ‘Password’ can be typed like ‘Pa$$w0rd’
5. A single word password is also not a good idea. Try building sentences. Single word passwords are easy to crack, while sentences take a lot of time to crack. And a sentence with special characters is a double whammy.
It’s absolutely fine to have space between letters. That makes it a little harder for a hacker’s software to guess the password.
Some Examples:
a. ‘i love bhelpuri’ can be typed as ‘! L0v3 Bh31pur!’
b. ‘ iOS is better than android’ can be typed as ‘!0$ i$ B3tt3r th4n 4ndr0!d’
Note:
Make sure your password is long and strong, with a minimum of 10 to 14 characters and a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols used as a sentence.
Here are two of the most important points to keep your password secure, no matter how trivial they sound.
1. Never share your password with anyone and be sure not to store it in your smartphones’ contacts.
2. Change your password every 3 months. A moving target is harder to hit for a sniper than a standing one.
If you take these precautions, there is still no guarantee that your accounts can’t be hacked into. But these tips can put off a hacker because it will take them longer to break the code.
And that is 80 percent protection because hackers are usually very impatient people. They prefer smash and grab jobs to a long, carefully planned siege.
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