Doing business online inevitably involves creating, memorising and recalling passwords. Understand how to create a strong password to minimise the chance of your security being compromised.

First, make sure you do not use the same password for two different applications of varying importance (for example, your password for a discussion forum and your password for internet banking.)

Next, if you choose to store your passwords in a “safe place”, make sure the security you apply to that safe place is at least as strong as the most important password kept there. For example, if you use a piece of software or a spreadsheet to keep track of passwords, don’t use a weak or easy-to-guess password to access that list.

For the password itself, avoid:

  • Names, numbers and dates associated with you, your family or your business
  • Dictionary words
  • Sequences of letters or numbers

Passwords take longer to crack if they:

  • Contain a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters
  • Contain numbers
  • Contain symbols or special characters
  • Are longer than 6 characters

You can make passwords easier to remember by having a password that is pronouncable, i.e. it follows English word conventions, without actually being a real word. For example, “4toblestic”.