Hack-Proof Your Passwords

Since the beginning of the internet, people have been using east-to-remember passwords. Last month, a hacker stole a giant list of passwords from a software company and it revealed some very interesting data to the public. The most common passwords in this list were 123456, 12345, and 123456789. Not very creative, hmmm? Check out this article for the full story:

If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make it HackMe

It is hard to remember all the different passwords you create for various sites, so it is tempting to only use a few simple ones over and over again. However, it is a good idea to use longer and more challenging passwords to help stop hacking on everything from Facebook to email to online banking.

Some tips:

• Use longer passwords. Every extra character adds security.
• Do not use the password suggestions generated by a site.
• Don't just use words, like "iloveyou" or "password."
• Don't use your name or initials.
• Do not use easy-to-guess combinations of numbers like years or birthdates.
• Use a mixture of capital and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols.

For example, if your password is "princess," you could change it to something like "Pr!nc3ZZ." You could even add some extra symbols or numbers to the beginning or end to make it longer. It's still easy to remember, but it's a lot harder to hack!