The most important considerations for creating a good password are:
1. The longer the better: At a minimum you should have 8 characters, but we’d recommend 12 or more.
2. Complexity: Adding numbers and characters greatly increases the strength of a password, as does a combination of lower and upper case letters.
3. Avoid repetition: Try to avoid creating a complex password, then incrementing it by one character each time you’re asked to change it.
4. Avoid obvious words/phrases: Don’t use anything obvious like “Password1", "qwerty", "asdfjkl;", "Sarah", "abc123". Dictionary brute force attacks start with these obvious phrases.
5. Don’t write it down: Don’t record your password anywhere, especially not on a post-it note on your desk!
Option 1: Turn a phrase into a password:
One suggested method is using the first letter from a favourite phrase.
An example could be a line from a movie, for example: Gone with the Wind - "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn" can be turned into the password "Fmdidgad". This alone isn’t secure enough, but by adding numbers and characters such as "Fmdidgad12#%", it’ll create a strong password
Option 2: Use several key words together
If option 1 isn’t for you, another option is to use several key words together to create a less complex but longer password.
In this case, just make sure that the words aren’t in the same order that they would appear in a sentence.’MyBigBrickHouse’ for example is not a good password. But something like ‘batterycorrecthouse’ is much better, and if you add some characters and uppercase letters (‘$batteryCorrecthouse!’), you’ll have a very secure password. Some tricks to think about here is to use words that you’ll remember, such as the name of an unusual street that you pass each morning on your way to work.
Option 3: Use a Password Tool
If all else fails, you can utilise a password programs like KeePass, which creates a completely random password not just for your windows network login but for all your online accounts too. In this case you only need to remember a single difficult password.
At Diamond, we take security seriously, so please contact us today if you have any questions regarding the tips above - call us now on 1300 307 907 or complete the form below to contact our support team.
