Let's play a game. Let me try to guess your password. Is it your name, your significant others name, your dogs name, your anniversary or birth date, the name of your hometown or simply the word 'password'? Any of these followed by a 1 or 0 since most passwords require numbers these days

If its not one of those, let me keep trying...

Is your password all lowercase letters, consecutive numbers like 12345 or letters such as 'qwerty'? Maybe it's a mixture of the two, like 'abc123'.

If I've guessed it by now you might as well know that your passwords are more like billboards posting the phrase "Hack me! Hack me!" on the side of the interstate, and not the small three lane interstate that graces the outskirts of Lincoln NE known as I-80, think more like the freeway in LA.

If you are using simple passwords, you are still posting a small banner on the side of a busy intersection for hackers of all ages, even thirteen year old boys can hack passwords that are all lowercase, and it only takes a few minutes.

Here at Vipa we require seven characters in a password with at least one upper and lowercase letter and a number as well. But, if you really want to be safe (and you should), don't use words from the dictionary, instead use a *passphrase* over 6 characters with multiple symbols (!@#$%^&*) numbers and random upper and lower case letters.

Don't believe me? What do you use passwords for? Do you online bank? Buy things online? You know those are attached to your credit card numbers, don't you? Just ask any of the thousands of people who are hacked each week.

Other things you probably need to change:

  • Never duplicate your password for other user names
  • Secret Questions are really easy to find out, what is your mother's maiden name? I can find out through an ancestry website, your local newspaper or anywhere else online. Same goes for anniversary dates and the town you were born in.

Moral of the Story: Treat passwords like you would treat your social security number, its private and its assigned only to you no one ever needs to know it, and change them often so no one finds it out.  

Want to test the strength of a password now that I have scared you into believing you are the next hacking victim? Try: https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx