How to choose a strong password

It has been known for long that even the securest system has its weak sides. And, as a rule, it is not even its technical peculiarities (for example, encryption algorithms) that cause it to be hacked, but just casual carelessness of people who use it. It is very often due to this so-called human factor that most failures and illegal access to your home computers occur. Below you will find a few simple rules that will help you choose a strong password. They are widely known, but there are very many users who ignore them and afterwards are surprised at how skilled hackers are.

• Never use your dog's name, your birth date or similar information as a password. If a hacker knows you, he can figure out the password in no time.
• Sequences representing some common word are also unadvisable. The thing is that most programs for finding passwords use a special dictionary with the most popular expressions. Passwords like "123" or "qwerty" are usually included in these dictionaries as well.
• A password must be long enough not to be easily broken by just a brute-force attack, but it also must not be too long for you to be able to memorize it. It is not recommended to use passwords shorter than 6-8 characters.
• Using letters in both cases and combining them with numbers is considered a good practice. This increases the range of a brute-force attack and it is much more difficult to break such a password. It is also possible to use special characters, such as «@&*#» and the like.
• The more absurd and original a password is, the stronger it is and the less possible it is that it will be included in a dictionary or easily guessed. You can make up a phrase consisting of several words, then take the first letters of the words and you already have a prototype for your password. And this phrase does not necessarily have to make sense, just let it be funny and awkward - it is much easier to memorize some emotional stupid phrase than a dry sequence of numbers and letters. It is also possible to use one of numerous programs for password generation. As a rule, this software meets the basic security requirements and allows you to create quite strong sequences.
• Do not write down your password on sheets of paper or in your notebook and definitely do not throw these sheets into the bin. If you need to remember a lot of passwords and other secret information, use a special program that stores them in an encrypted form. In this case, it will be enough to remember just one master password for the storage. It is recommended to create this storage on some removable media, for instance, on a flash drive or floppy disk. Never store passwords in a file in an open form. It will not be difficult to find this file for a person who knows what to look for.
• If possible, change your passwords at a certain time interval. Even if someone else gets the old password, it will be no good and the person will not be able to harm you.