Is “12345” a good password? No! Learn to choose a good one. Great passwords have eight characteristics.

1. Easy to remember.
2. Don't use any real words
3. At least 7 characters long, but the longer the better.
4. No obvious characteristics (avoid astrological signs, phone numbers, birth days etc.)
5. Use upper and lower case, numbers, and punctuation marks.
6. Nothing cryptic (See rule number 1)
7. Use a phrase instead of a word

Here are some bad passwords.

“#%@sdnec^&$D160” - Unless the 160 stands for your IQ, you’ll never remember it.

“12345” – This is guess number 2 for most hackers

“Open” – This is too short.

Here are some great passwords. (Easy to remember / Impossible to guess)

“D9e8n7v6e5r4” - (Denver with numbers in the middle)

“6yhn8uhb" - (Type is on a keyboard to see why it's so easy to remember.)

“Dansing_Moonkies” - (Intentionally misspelled)

Tags: IT Management, IT Services, Security

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