Another Reason to Choose a Safe, Secure Password

Passwords are the keys to our lives in this day and age. Passwords protect our computer access, e-mail, online accounts, bank accounts, and so much more. Just imagine if someone got their hands on your online banking password (since you are not using the same password for Facebook and your checking account, right?). They would be able to clean you out - your life would be put on hold while you deal with financial institutions, trying to get everything back on track. This is an ordeal you never want to experience, and fortunately you can drastically reduce the odds of it happening by choosing a safe, secure password.

Do you use a simple, easy-to-remember password? Do you use the same password for everything? If you cannot be bothered to come up with secure passwords to protect your most important information, then make no mistake, the only person you are fooling is yourself. It may only be a matter of time until the wrong person is able to bypass your weak little passphrase.

Just to provide a bit of motivation, here is the latest reason why you should not use easy-to-remember passwords: this MD5 cracking tool (via Cybernet News) is able to convert many encrypted passwords back into their original, plain text form. The tool is not actually able to reverse the encryption programmatically. Rather, it works by searching a database that contains both the encrypted and plain text forms of millions of the most common passwords.

This method of password cracking is referred to a dictionary attack - take advantage of those who use easy-to-remember passwords by trying all of the most common choices over and over until you hit on one that works. Do yourself a favor — protect yourself from dictionary attacks by using a difficult-to-guess password. Who cares if it takes little effort to remember your dog’s name? Anyone with a brain can memorize a random string of letters and numbers, given just a few days of repetition. It’s the same concept as learning a new dance step, cell phone interface, or route home from work.

Better passwords include both letters and numbers, and do not contain words found in the dictionary of any language. Sticking “123″ on the end of your dog’s name does not make a secure password! If you need a few pointers on how to choose a good password, take a look at “Create a strong, secure password“. The article describes many characteristics of a secure password, and provides a few simple ways to come up with one.