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#164 Create a Secure Password

April 23, 2013

Many cloud-based services have access to our personal information. Therefore, it is important to protect these accounts with unique, secure passwords. Here are some tips to help you create secure passwords that are easy to remember.

Many cloud-based services have access to our personal information. Therefore, it is important to protect these accounts with unique, secure passwords. To best protect Penn Data, you should never use your LawKey or PennKey password for other cloud-based services.  Here are some general criteria for a secure password:

 

  • It must be at least 8 characters long.
  • It must not contain easily guessed information such your birth date, phone number, spouse’s name, pet’s name, kid’s name, login name, etc.
  • It shouldn’t contain words found in the dictionary.
  • It should contain special characters such as @#$%^& and/or numbers.
  • It should use a variation of upper and lower case letters.

 

A simple way to come up with a secure password that doesn’t contain any dictionary words is to use the first letter of every word from your favorite quote. For example, “I want to have my cake and eat it, too” becomes “Iw2hmc&ei2”.

 

There are many ways to create secure and memorable passwords. For more tips on creating secure passwords, you can check out this article or this tip from the Information Security office.