Choosing a Secure Password - The Linux-Tip Approach
Sunday, 04 January 2009
Here is my question: Are “cyEma7;IkmH!” or “hot1BA-Bitso69” secure passwords? Yes definitely, but who (the hell) can remember it! YOU WILL - after reading this article!
Your passwords play a crucial role in protecting your computing accounts and the personal information that can be accessed through them.
One of the problems with passwords is that users forget them. For that reason people use simple password phrases like their dog’s name, their kid’s first name and birthdates, the name of the current month or everything in different combinations.

 

 

For the curious hacker who has somehow gained access to your computer system this is the equivalent of locking your door and leaving the key under the doormat. Without even resorting to any specialized tools a hacker can discover your basic personal information and try all of those out as potential passwords.

Another problem with a (secure) password is that people do use the same password for everything. If someone finds this password, they would have access to their mail, their Blog, their Forum posts and other information.

The goal is to create easy to remember, convertible and secure passwords, so that you can be sure, that only YOU control what goes into and comes out of your different accounts.

This is an approach, you should try: Build passwords using two parts:

  • the strong static part with at least 8 characters and
  • the changeable part to remember the purpose of the usage

Let’s start with the Static Part:

You can make a password much more secure by mixing different types of characters. Use some uppercase letters along with lowercase letters, numbers and even special characters such as '!' or ';'. Very important is that you have to find a good way to remember it. A good way to do this is to choose the first letters of a sentence that you will remember.

e.g.

Every morning at 7; I kiss my Honey! Ema7;IkmH!
Brayn Adams - Back in the summer of '69BA-Bitso69


The Changeable Part:

Try to find short terms for the different uses.

e.g.

Hotmail Accounthot1 or hot2
Ebay Accountebay or ey
Bank Account
city or cy
My Blog
blog or bg



That’s it! “Glue” both parts together and you have nice passwords for different purposes that you can easily remember.

My bank account:   cyEma7;IkmH!
My mail password: hot1Ema7;IkmH!


You should regularly change the static part of your password depending on your security needs. There is really no need to re-use a password. Be creative! Please do not use the example passwords!