IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I’m worried about the passwords I’m using and wondering how I can make them harder to break

Passwords are serious worry. Most people have two or three passwords that they regularly use and if one of them gets revealed, then there can be a serious problem.

On top of this, many people use very simple passwords that are easy to guess, such as their dog’s name, this is a risk when dealing with family members, staff or colleagues.

A slightly more obscure, but still real, risks is many passwords are a simple combination of numbers or letters and these can be quickly broken by dictionary or “brute force” attacks, where someone sets a computer program to try every possible combination of numbers and letters.

While even the strongest password would eventually fall to a determined and well resourced hacker it is possible to create a strong password with the following tips;

One popular trick is to take a phrase and use the initials to create a password. For instance; “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” becomes tqbfjotld.

That password then can be toughened by making the letters q and l capitals so we now have tQbfjotLd.

To strengthen it a bit more, we’ll change the letter b to an 8 and t to a 7 so we now have tQ8fjo7Ld.

The important thing is to have a password you can remember. If you have to write this password down and stick to your computer monitor, then all your hard work is wasted.

We’ll discuss protecting your passwords in another post.

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