If you ever suspect
a favorite website has been hacked, run a malware and virus scan on
the devices used to access the site, then change your password. For
sites with financial accounts such as online banks, utilities, or
credit cards, create unique passwords that are not used with any
other type of site. If a hacker gets your password from a favorite
shopping site, social media site, or even from work, they can't empty
your checking account and clone your credit cards.
The creation of
passwords is tricky and exhausting. Never: use the same password for
everything, use birth-dates, sports jersey numbers, addresses, ID
numbers, pet or family names, or use the word 'password.' And if a
word appears on any of your social media platforms, don't use it. The
challenge is to create one you can remember that isn't your last name
followed by one, two, three. So what do you do? You can come up with
lists of passwords, get a password generator, or try the key-and-lock
approach.
This method breaks
the password into two pieces. The first half is a standard password
like BlueB04. The second half is related to the specific site. This
could be the first letters of the site's address, the company name,
or any other information relating to the account. In effect, a single
password becomes many. Examples: BlueB04Costco, BlueB04SBUX,
BlueB04XYZ123 … With financially significant sites like a bank, you
could use a special code or pin between the two parts. Example FIN
for financial would look like: BlueB04FINXYZ123 – the longer
the password the better.
There is a different
technique altogether. Instead of picking some absurd concept to
encode on a keyboard like BlueB04, use the keyboard as a landscape
and plot a pattern the same way most phones are opened. For example,
a straight, horizontal line would be 'qwerty.' Your password becomes
a simple, geographical pattern on the keyboard, like a little journey
or dance your fingers play out in a specific way. Think of a
picture-key. This method consists of circles, taps, and swipes over
an image. Simply translate that to the keyboard. You start at a point
and walk a predetermined path. This makes the password easy to
remember, super-fast to enter, and can be quickly changed by simply
starting with a new key but following the same shape.
The ultimate
strength of a password is its randomness. Personally, I use a
combination of both techniques in three sections: first, a pattern;
second, a standard; and third, a site-related. Example:
qwertyBlueB04XYZ123. This tactic produces powerful, easily-managed
passwords.
