Password strategies
A weak password provides little protection against malicious attack. Sensible password management can reduce this risk. Passwords should be:
- 8 characters or longer
- a mix of upper and lower case
- a mix of alphabetical, numeric and punctuation symbols
- not a word in a dictionary, or someone's name (including your own)
- not your birthdate, or telephone number
- not your home or business address
- not your pet's name
- not your favourite food
- not a series of consecutive numbers
- not used on too many different services
- not written down (except perhaps in a secure location)
- not easily guessable
- not easily forgettable
- changed every so often
Tricky passwords can be remembered by breaking them up into groups of characters, or making a sentence out of it, with each letter being the first letter of the word. For example: a password of TCITHSOTM is simple to remember - that's The Cat In The Hat Sat On The Mat, of course!
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