Password Protection

If you're like me, thinking up inventive--and potentially hack-resistant--passwords for all your online accounts and websites can be taxing and time-consuming. ReadWrite Enterprises has a solution, outlined in "Why Using 2 or 3 Simple Words May Be the Best Password Protection of All."

Hackers access accounts by using a variety of methods, such as guessing (which is why birthdays, anniversaries, etc. do not make good passwords), scams, trial-and-error (entering in various passwords), dictionary approach (using all words in the dictionary) and listing common words.

While most IT professionals advocate complex words and symbols as passwords, most of us can't remember those and end up writing down our passwords, which defeats the whole purpose of passwords.

The author recommends stringing together three common words, such as "this is fun," as your password. Also having your provider put in place delays when entering wrong passwords, such as only being able to enter a password every five seconds and 10 wrong passwords locks you out for an hour, can further strengthen your password protections.

So toss out the old, complex and hard-to-recall passwords and try three simple words together. You might find it easier to remember and more fun to type in to your accounts.

Until next time,

Sarah