-Do not use your network username as your password.i.e admin, administrator
-Don’t use easily guessed passwords, such as “password” or “user.”
-Do not choose passwords based upon details that may not be as confidential as you’d expect, such as your birth date, your Social Security or phone number, or names of family members.
-Do not use words that can be found in the dictionary. Password-cracking tools freely available online often come with dictionary lists that will try thousands of common names and passwords. If you must use dictionary words, try adding a numeral to them, as well as punctuation at the beginning or end of the word (or both!).
-Avoid using simple adjacent keyboard combinations: For example, “qwerty” and “asdzxc” and “123456″ are horrible passwords and that are trivial to crack.
-Use passwords that are at least eight characters long. Each character you add to a password makes it an order of magnitude harder to attack via brute-force methods.
-If you have trouble remembering your passwords, try replacing certain letters in the word with look-alike numbers. For example, the password “alabama” could be far more secure when typed as “4labAm4.” or "awesome" which can be written as "@we$omE" .
Another useful and secure way of remembering and creating strong passwords is to use the first letter of each word in a phrase from a favorite book or song. For example, “Revenge is best served cold" can be “RibsC.” Add a digit and/or some capitalization and you’ve got a pretty strong password.
-Avoid using the same password at multiple Web sites. It’s generally safe to re-use the same password at sites that do not store sensitive information about you (like a news Web site) provided you don’t use this same password at sites that are sensitive.
-Never use the password you’ve picked for your email account at any online site: If you do, and an e-commerce site you are registered at gets hacked, there’s a good chance someone will be reading your e-mail soon.
-Whatever you do, don’t store your list of passwords on your computer in plain text. My views on the advisability of keeping a written list of your passwords has evolved over time. The most secure method for remembering your passwords is to create a list of every Web site for which you have a password and next to each one write your login name and a clue that has meaning only for you.You can also make use of apps that store password for you i.e Keepass, Lastpass, PasswordSafe and Roboform. If you forget your password, most Web sites will email it to you (assuming you can remember which email address you signed up with).
-One thing to note about password storage in Firefox: If you have not enabled and assigned a “master password” to manage your passwords in Firefox, anyone with physical access to your computer and user account can view the stored passwords in plain text, simply by clicking “Options,” and then “Show Passwords.” To protect your passwords from local prying eyes, drop a check mark into the box next to “Use Master Password” at the main Options page, and choose a strong password that only you can remember. You will then be prompted to enter the master password once per session when visiting a site that uses one of your stored passwords.
-There are several third-party programs that can help users safeguard sensitive passwords, including & and . Keepass is another robust, free password manager program that works similarly to Password Safe. Take care to pick a strong master password, but one that you can remember; just as with the Firefox master password option, if you forget the master password you are pretty much out of luck.
-Don’t use easily guessed passwords, such as “password” or “user.”
-Do not choose passwords based upon details that may not be as confidential as you’d expect, such as your birth date, your Social Security or phone number, or names of family members.
-Do not use words that can be found in the dictionary. Password-cracking tools freely available online often come with dictionary lists that will try thousands of common names and passwords. If you must use dictionary words, try adding a numeral to them, as well as punctuation at the beginning or end of the word (or both!).
-Avoid using simple adjacent keyboard combinations: For example, “qwerty” and “asdzxc” and “123456″ are horrible passwords and that are trivial to crack.
-Use passwords that are at least eight characters long. Each character you add to a password makes it an order of magnitude harder to attack via brute-force methods.
-If you have trouble remembering your passwords, try replacing certain letters in the word with look-alike numbers. For example, the password “alabama” could be far more secure when typed as “4labAm4.” or "awesome" which can be written as "@we$omE" .
Another useful and secure way of remembering and creating strong passwords is to use the first letter of each word in a phrase from a favorite book or song. For example, “Revenge is best served cold" can be “RibsC.” Add a digit and/or some capitalization and you’ve got a pretty strong password.
-Avoid using the same password at multiple Web sites. It’s generally safe to re-use the same password at sites that do not store sensitive information about you (like a news Web site) provided you don’t use this same password at sites that are sensitive.
-Never use the password you’ve picked for your email account at any online site: If you do, and an e-commerce site you are registered at gets hacked, there’s a good chance someone will be reading your e-mail soon.
-Whatever you do, don’t store your list of passwords on your computer in plain text. My views on the advisability of keeping a written list of your passwords has evolved over time. The most secure method for remembering your passwords is to create a list of every Web site for which you have a password and next to each one write your login name and a clue that has meaning only for you.You can also make use of apps that store password for you i.e Keepass, Lastpass, PasswordSafe and Roboform. If you forget your password, most Web sites will email it to you (assuming you can remember which email address you signed up with).
-One thing to note about password storage in Firefox: If you have not enabled and assigned a “master password” to manage your passwords in Firefox, anyone with physical access to your computer and user account can view the stored passwords in plain text, simply by clicking “Options,” and then “Show Passwords.” To protect your passwords from local prying eyes, drop a check mark into the box next to “Use Master Password” at the main Options page, and choose a strong password that only you can remember. You will then be prompted to enter the master password once per session when visiting a site that uses one of your stored passwords.
-There are several third-party programs that can help users safeguard sensitive passwords, including & and . Keepass is another robust, free password manager program that works similarly to Password Safe. Take care to pick a strong master password, but one that you can remember; just as with the Firefox master password option, if you forget the master password you are pretty much out of luck.
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