strong passwords and keeping your online identity secure
How do I choose a strong password?
Passwords are used to help us determine that you are who you say you are. This is important to ensure that we show only your profile and information to you. If only you know your password, then we can be confident that it's you who is logging on. To help keep your password secure, you should use a strong password.
What is a strong password?
A strong password:
* is kept private and not shared with anyone else or recorded anywhere.
* is not guessable by anyone or any program.
* is easily remembered by you, so there is no need to write it down.
Why you should choose a strong password
If you use a weak password, someone else may be able to guess your password, access your user profile, and use or change your information.
Three steps to a strong password
To choose a strong password and help us keep your information secure, simply follow these three steps.
Step One
Avoid bad password habits:
- don't use your first or last name and, more generally, any information easily obtained about you in any form. This includes things like your email address, car registration numbers, the make of your car, the name of a close relative etc.
- don't use any words found in a dictionary, sequences of letters like 'abcdef' or 'qwerty', or place names etc. as there are programs that can rapidly try all such words. These programs can also test for simple numeric substitution, such as pa55w0rd for password.
- don't pick a password that is similar to your previous password. For example, easypassword01, easypassword02, easypassword03.
- don't write your password down.
Step Two
Make sure that your password is:
- a mixture of upper and lower case characters or digits.
- eight or more characters long.
- easy for you to remember and easy to type without making mistakes.
Step Three
Use one of the following methods to create a strong password that's easy to remember:
- choose two words and join them together with one or more digits. For example: minT2Sauce, nAvy9bLue, White0flag
- use the first letter of each word in a memorable phrase, saying, nursery rhyme, or song title.
For example: a fool and his money are soon parted might become aFaHmasP . For good measure add or insert a digit to give aFaH3masP. jack and Jill went up the hill might become: jaJwuTh? i was born on April 1st" might become: iWboA1
Another great technique is to take an ordinary word or phrase and change, delete, or add characters so that it becomes nonsensical. For example:
- Brighton might become 3R1gH20n
- computers might become c08Putr5
- mister Cool might become mRk001
Finally, even if you choose a strong password, you should still change it from time to time, or if you suspect someone else may have discovered what it is.