The strength of a password is important when trying to resist outside personnel access, whether illegally or not, to a website, application, or account. There are two main ways for a person to access an account that they do not have a password to: brute-force, and using information about you to guess what the password may be.

Brute-force attacks use computers, in which the computer tries millions of combinations of letters, numbers, and other characters in an effort to guess your password.

With using information about you, the hacker is hoping that you made your password based on personal information. This can range from a child or pets name, your birth date, to your favorite sports team.

When you create a password for an account, keep these tips in mind:

Use a different password for each account.

Use a password that uses letters, numbers and is at least ten characters long.

Try to include a character such as !,@,#,$,%,&, or ?.

Do not use dictionary words such as carpet, automobile, insurance, flowers, etc

Another tip in protecting your passwords is how you handle them, and how easily they can be made available. Some more tips are:

Never write your passwords down on paper. There are many programs you can use such as RoboForm and KeePass to securely store all your passwords.

Do not tell anyone your password - not even friends or family members.

Change your passwords at least once per year.

And above all, do not use “password” as your password.

The reason a password should be so difficult to guess is because once someone can gain access to your information, they can get personal data from private emails, bank accounts, phone records, and they could even perform illegal activities in your name.