Creating the
Perfect Password
The quest to create a perfect password to secure your data has been something that has challenged users for decades. You need something good enough to keep the Hackers out, but yet simple enough to be something you can remember.
This contradiction often has people throwing their hands up in the air and just hoping for the best. This is not a good plan.
The Hard Truth
The fact that most people use the same password is a Hacker’s Dream Come True.
However, even the best password in the world is not sufficient to secure all your information. If the site you are using gets hacked then your password may be in the hands of Hackers, through no fault of your own. Hackers will sell your password to the highest bidder over and over again on the Dark Web – placing ALL your information at risk.
Related: Do you want to know if any sites you have visited have been hacked?
Get a Dark Web Assessment to find out.
10 years ago, passwords just needed to be “long” (6 digits)
5 years ago, passwords needed to be long and COMPLEX (6 digits + a number, symbol, etc)
Today – you need much more!
How to make a Perfect Password
You need to have a UNIQUE password for every single site you log into using ALL of these rules:
- 10 or more digits
- One or more lower case letters
- One or more UPPER case letters
- One or more numbers (0-9)
- One or more symbols such as !@#$%^&*()-=`;’,./[]\<>?:”{}|_+
The natural reaction is to say NO WAY! I cannot possibly remember all these passwords for every site!
We have a solution for you, which requires nothing to buy, no complicated software, and will provide you protection even if one of the sites you use gets hacked (except, of course, for that site which got hacked – but that is not something under your control, your password is!).
Step 1 – Create a BASE password
The BASE password must be 8 or more digits by itself and include all the rules above (upper, lower, symbol, number).
This is the ONE password you have to memorize, but you can make it a derivative of a word or phrase.
Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing!
EXAMPLE 1: Phrase I can remember: SUGAR PLUMB – A sample BASE would look like this: sUg@rP1Um or SUG@rPLUM71 or $ug@RP1UM
EXAMPLE 2: WORD I can remember: WHISKEY – A sample BASE would look like this: Wh1$k3y or WHI$k3Y
Step 2 – Decide Front, Back, or both?
To make this password “personalized” based on the site you are going to we need to add something to the front of it, the back of it, or both (for those wanting extra credit!). It really doesn’t matter what you pick – just pick and ALWAYS stick to that. So for this example let us pick FRONT.
Second you need to decide how many digits. As a general rule, more is better for passwords, but lets not go crazy. 2-4 digits is fine. So for this example let us pick 3 digits.
Now you take the site name and we will take the first 3 digits and add to the FRONT of the base. Some examples: Amazon you would use (ama) or EbAy (eba) or Chase (cha) and so on.
Let’s put it all together!
Password for AMAZON
EXAMPLE 1: BASE of SUG@rPLUM71 would turn into amaSUG@rPLUM71
EXAMPLE 2: BASE of WHI$k3Y would turn into amaWHI$k3Y
Password for eBay
EXAMPLE 1: BASE of SUG@rPLUM71 would turn into ebaSUG@rPLUM71
EXAMPLE 2: BASE of WHI$k3Y would turn into ebaWHI$k3Y
Password for Chase
EXAMPLE 1: BASE of SUG@rPLUM71 would turn into chaSUG@rPLUM71
EXAMPLE 2: BASE of WHI$k3Y would turn into chaWHI$k3Y
PRO TIP: Do you write down all your passwords somewhere? DON’T! If someone gets a copy of that, all your passwords are exposed!
How do I get started?
You should start changing your passwords now. It is never too soon.
Get a Dark Web Assessment to find out which have already been hacked then implement a security training program for everyone (not just the technical people) in your company. A security program is inexpensive and can be rolled out in under a matter of days.
Related: Do you want to know if any sites you have visited have been hacked? Get a Dark Web Assessment to find out.
Final Thoughts
There are certain situations in which you need to move to more advanced protection methods (such as two factor authentication), we will talk about those in a future How to Guide. More and more high profile sites are moving towards two factor authentication (Apple, Chase, etc.) and it is arguably the future of authentication.
There are password managers out there (some real & some scams) for those sophisticated enough to install and use them, these can be a good solution. However, the system above does not require you purchase, install, or learn how to use any software.
If you want to learn more about using technology for business, please check out our Learning Center for videos, blogs, and whitepapers. That’s exactly what we do at PCS International. If you want to learn more about what your organization should be doing for security, contact us. We’re always happy to help.
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