Thursday, January 21, 2010

How Secure Are Your Passwords?

As we use more and more online services, we use passwords on a regular basis. How hard would it be to 'hack' into one of your accounts?

The New York Times has a great article about password security, "
If Your Password is 123456, Just Make it HackMe".

Is your password on the list of most popular passwords? Or is it something like your initials or first name?
Do you use a combination of letters (upper and lower-case) and numbers in your passwords for extra security?

Some password tips:

Use a random word that you'll remember and substitute numbers and/or symbols for some of the letters.
I attended Boston University which has the viscious Terrier as it's mascot. I could use 't3RR!3r' as a password.

or

My favorite song is "You Picked a Fine Time to Leave me Lucille" (sorry for putting that song in your head). I could create an acronym for this set of lyrics. 'yp@ft2lmL' would be hard to forget but even harder to guess.

Image Attribution:
Image: 'locking nothing'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53611153@N00/443924168