Create a strong password in 6 easy steps

Wednesday, 10 June 2009 19:11

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In today's world of online mayhem, password strength is critical.

Follow these 6 easy steps to create a strong password:

1) Think of a sentence you can remember. This will be the basis of your password or pass phrase.

For example: “My son Aiden is three years old”

2) Use a pass phrase. If the computer/online system supports pass phrases directly (with spaces

between characters), use your pass phrase.

3) Convert the pass phrase into a password. If the computer/online system does not support pass

phrases, convert the phrase into a password. Do this by taking the first letter of each word in your

sentence to create a new, nonsensical word. Using the above example, you'd get “msaityo.”

4) Add complexity. Mix uppercase/lowercase letters and numbers, swap letters, and use

misspellings. The longer the sentence, the more complex your password can be. In the above

pass phrase, misspelling Aiden's name or substituting the word “three” for the number “3” turns

the pass phrase into “My SoN Ayd3N is 3 yeeRs old.” Using the same technique on the shorter

password changes “msaityo” to “MsAi3yo.”

5) Substitute with special characters. Create a more complex password by using symbols that look

like letters and combining words by removing spaces. Using these tricks, the above pass phrase

becomes “MySoN8Ni$3yeeR$old.”

6) Test your new password. Microsoft Password Checker is a non-recording feature that determines

your password’s strength: www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx