More often we hear stories of people who have had their accounts hacked or heard about people that have had their infrastructure compromised by someone hacking into their server. Having an easy password is like handing your house keys to a stranger. It is vital that people not make these dangerous mistakes.

Mistake #1: Using the same password for your accounts. Please don’t do this. Use different passwords for every email account, and definitely use unique passwords for websites where you’d enter your credit card.

Mistake #2: Using short passwords. The risk of someone guessing your password is increasingly difficult the more characters are in it. So, go for the gusto and make your passwords long. It makes it much harder to guess a password that is 10 characters rather than 3 characters.

Mistake #3: BradPitt, Charlie, Sarah, Princess, Barbie — Did I guess it? Do not use kids’ names, pet’s names, nick-names, characters in books or celebrity names. Even if I didn’t guess it in my list, someone who knows you could.

Mistake #4: Using easy to remember words. Easy to remember is also easy to guess. Passwords should not contain English and Non English words found in a dictionary. Hackers tend to use software that will perform scans of common English words. If your password is “password” or “test” then it’s a wonder you haven’t been hacked yet!

Mistake #5: Using numbers. Seriously, stay away from birthdays, anniversaries, addresses, social security numbers or telephone numbers. They are all too easy to guess.

Now, we will discuss how to create strong and secure passwords. Think of a sentence that you can remember.

This will be the basis of your strong password. Use a memorable sentence; such as “My sister Anne has three kids.” You can simply use the first letter of any phrase you can remember. For this example the password could be “MsAhtk”. Add complexity by mixing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers as well as symbols. It is valuable to use some letter swapping or misspellings as well. For instance, in the pass phrase above, consider misspelling Anne’s name, or substituting the word “three” for the number 3. There are many possible substitutions, and the longer the sentence, the more complex your password can be. Your password might become M$@h3K.

Test your password with a Password Checker. It can be found at Microsoft’s website at http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx

These are just a few ways to create a strong password. After someone has created a strong password it is vital to keep the password secret. Treat your passwords and pass phrases with as much care as the information that they protect. We at M&H always try to create passwords that are easy to remember but also are strong passwords when setting up a client network. We feel your information is invaluable and we want to ensure it is secure. We are willing to check the strength of a password or the overall security in place.