Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Creating Passwords - a Tutorial

You know I'm a gal that's all about handy dandy tips and tricks, right? Well, the subject of passwords and hacking what should be private accounts has come up more than once lately so I thought I would share my tip for creating a foolproof password no one can guess.

First, think of a song that has great meaning to you... Got one???

Next, think of a favorite line. I personally think it's best if you think of a line that has a proper name in in the middle of it.

My bestie and I have been listening to endless love songs lately preparing music for our niece's wedding. And the song "Home" by The Magnetic Zeros has been my favorite earworm lately. So for example, this is a good line for a potential password:

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa

To create a password, use the first letters of each word: AAIdlmM&P  or if symbols are not allowed: AAIdlmMaP (using a for "and").

But then I mess with it. Everyone assumes you use your own birthday because everyone else does! Or a spouse or significant other. That's too obvious! Use your mom or dad's. I also use my parent's last four digits of their socials!   But get a four digit number... that's not your birthday... and insert it somewhere in the middle!

So now we have:   AAIdlm1234MaP

Now if they allow symbols, EVEN BETTER! Put the ampersand back in where it belongs or my favorite... Pick one of those numbers that has some meaning... we all have favorite numbers, don't we? (Please don't tell me I'm the only one!!!???!!) Let's say in this case, that 2 is my favorite number. In place of the 2 in that string, use the symbol over it on the keyboard, which is @

So now my password looks like this: AAIdlm1@34M&P

Who on earth could guess that???? Protect yourselves people!!!

Now for something beady... the Fire Divas Team Treasury is over and my zebra pendant is on the way Illinois but, there's a matching heart! Just thought I would show it off so we could have a picture to look at!


Have  a wonderful day and be safe out there... the Internet can be a scary place!







2 comments:

Cindy said...

I work in an IT dept for a major hospital, our passwords must have special characters, letters and numbers.

We teach people to spell words with special characters. For instance: $mart@$$, add some numbers at the beginning and end, voila, done. How about @pple, or P@$$word.

CreekHiker / HollysFolly said...

Cindy, To me, unless you add the numbers, it's still too easy to guess.

And folks, "password" is the NUMBER ONE password used!!! Don't use it!!! Even a symbolized version of it!!! You guys are smarter than that!!!