As online threats grow in number more and more each day, it is important to stay as safe and secure as possible: networks must be monitored, security solutions put in place and enforced, data encrypted and protected. But selecting a password for your software programs or encrypted data is not as simple as using your grandmother's maiden name, for example. It is important to come up with a strong, not easily identifiable password that will give you peace of mind and the security you need.
"Password creation is a constant dance between security and convenience, where good passwords that bridge the gap are hard to come by. On the one hand, strong passwords, changed on a regular basis, do reduce the likelihood of success for a wide range of attacks. On the other hand, if you make something too complex, you run the risk of forgetting it-somewhat ironic evidence of its security," says Ben Nahorney from Symantec.
According to him, there are several methods that you can employ so as to end up with a strong password that you will be able to remember for more than 10 minutes.
Substitute characters with letters
In order for a password to be strong it must include letters, as well as numbers. There are some letters that are somewhat similar to numbers, so whenever possible, it is a good idea to substitute one with the other. For example, the simple word "password" becomes "p@55w0rd". Also, it is a good idea to capitalize some of the letters, turning the previous example into"P@55w0Rd".
Salt your password
Cryptography experts are surely familiar with this concept, which entails randomly adding pseudo-characters to your password. For example you could add your car number, weight, or any other number to your password and increase its strength. It is best to avoid adding your birth date because it is an "easily identifiable personal info". Let's take the example presented above, and let's say that someone who weighs 98 kilos wants to use that to salt the password. In this situation we would end up with something like "P98@55w0Rd" or "P@55w098Rd".
Inspiration from things you like
Just take a look at a movie or listen to a song and you will surely come up with something you can use. Here are some classic examples: "do you feel lucky, punk" from the Clint Eastwood movies turns into "D0Uf33l|uckyPunk?" or the Doors' "Whole Lotta Love" song becomes "WH0|3L0 aLuv". Add a little salt, and you have a pretty good password. You can find inspiration in anything that surrounds you, from a newspaper, book, or movie, to something that a friend told you once and made you laugh.
First letter sentences
People used to do something similar when looking at someone's registration number. If the registration was something like "IKBTY", that would translate into "I know better than you". When coming up with a password, go about it the other way around. So by taking a long phrase such as "another world, another time, in the age of wonder" you could come up with "Aw,At,i 40W".
Foreign languages
To give your password that extra bit of strength, you could incorporate words from other languages. You could include the Italian word "sinistra" (means left in English), but first do a little substitution and even salting to come up with something like "51Ni5 rA".
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