Google Wants Longer Passwords

It's a well known fact that in order to remain secure and keep your information private and hidden from others' eyes, you have to use a long and a complex password. Because Google is a provider of web-based technologies, the need of secure passwords is even more important. According to Haochi from Googlified, the Mountain View company modified the passwords policies and is now requiring the consumers to choose a secret word of minimum 8 characters. Until now, you had to enter only a minimum of 6 characters but from now on, either you're registering a new account or you're changing your password, you're forced to write 8 characters.

As the same blogger wrote, Google has even a special page to provide security tips for its users and to encourage them to keep their accounts secure. "The first step in protecting your online privacy is creating a safe password - i.e. one that a computer program or persistent individual won't easily be able to guess in a short period of time. To help you choose a secure password, we've created a feature that lets you know visually how safe your password is as soon as you create it," it is mentioned.

Beside the common tips to remain secure such as keeping your password private and avoid sharing it with another user, the page also provides a somehow paranoiac trick: "Periodically test your current password and change it to a new one."

If you didn't know, Google has even a separated website that can check your password's strength in a matter of seconds. If you want to use it, you can click on this website and change the 'replaceme' term in the URL link with your own password. After that, press enter and you should be able to see a number in the left corner of the page. As far I can see, number 1 represents a weak password while 4 is the most secure password.