Take a Crack at Creating Strong Passwords
In honor of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I wanted to stress the importance of creating strong passwords. Data security is tested constantly. At MEC we focus on three principles when it comes to passwords. Make them long, strong and memorable, which is a simple strategy for individuals and businesses, alike.
Long passwords are not only harder to guess, but they are also harder to crack with a password breaker. The minimum password length that we suggest is 15 characters, when possible. This password length alone can deter thieves, who will move on to lower hanging fruit.
Next, a password must be strong, no exceptions, as even a basic password breaker can access all of the words you’d find in a dictionary. Strong, complex passwords are bulletproof if they are created properly. A 12-character password of varied upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters can take 200 years to crack.
A password must be memorable so you are not tempted to write it down. Also, don’t use children or pet names or important dates associated with you or your family. Pick something less obvious, like a favorite song or line in a movie. An example of a strong 16-character password would be: 0n30fTh3s3N!ght$.
My final suggestion would be to use a password manager because you only need to remember one challenging password. The password manager will help you build strong passwords to easily access websites, computers or apps with ease.
