Strong Passwords

We live in a world where much of our information is stored on the Internet. This could include information stored in Email, on Facebook, Internet Banking, or other websites. To protect this information we usually have Passwords. I have had many spam emails sent to me from email addresses that I recognized as owned by friends, co-workers, or acquaintances. Commonly this is caused by weak passwords that hackers have figured out and used to gain access to the the email account. The following are tips to create stronger passwords:

Don't use the same passwords for your Internet Banking accounts that you do for your other accounts. This will protect you from hackers gaining access to your bank accounts if those other passwords are discovered.

If possible, use a pass-phrase instead of a password. For example: "To be or not to be." (include the spaces and the period). To complicate it up a little you could substitute the number 2 for the word "to": "2 be or not 2 be." A mixed character pass-phrase is extremely difficult to break.

If you can't use a pass-phrase, use a complex password including a Capitol Letter, Lowercase Letter, a Number, and a special character (!,@,#,$, etc), also make it a minimum of 8 characters long but the longer the password the better.

Don't use any Birthdays, Anniversary dates, Addresses, or Phone Numbers as your passwords.