Your password is critical for protecting your account. A weak password may expose your email, banking, and other personal information. Examples of weak passwords:
- keyboard passwords (12345678 or qwert123) which are common and easy to guess.
- a person's name (michael)
- a word found in the dictionary (dinosaur)
Use these tips to create a strong password:
- Mix in capital letters, numbers, and symbols. Instead of 'samantha' use S@mantha22.
- Group several unrelated words together and add a number. For instance: dogkitecar33.
- Take a phrase and use the first letter of each word. Add a number at the end. For example, 'This is my secret password' would be Timsp777.
Be sure to use different passwords for each website. You can make a variation on a particular theme. For instance, if you make a base password of “football” use an attribute before and after the word. Example: if you’re logging into First National Bank, you could use
5football$FN. If you have many passwords to remember, most experts recommend using a
password manager.
Email Account
The password for your email account is extremely important. Many websites have a "Forgot your password?" feature that sends you an email to reset your password. Imagine if a hacker got access to your Inbox -- he/she could reset the passwords to all your online banking, shopping, and social networking sites. Therefore, it's critical that you don't re-use your email password at any other site. If that other site gets hacked, the hacker will try signing into your mailbox with the same password.
Article ID: 435, Created: 2/3/2014 at 2:38 PM, Modified: 2/24/2023 at 12:02 PM